2024 Global Report on Food Crises
Nearly 282 million people in 59 countries and territories experienced high levels of acute hunger in 2023 — 24 million more than the previous year. A new report offers a deep dive into why this is happening, and what the world needs to do about it.
2024 Global Report on Food Crises: Joint Analysis for Better Decisions
For four years running, the proportion of people facing acute food insecurity has remained persistently high at almost 22 percent of those assessed, significantly exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels, a new report finds.
According to the 2024 Global Report on Food Crises, nearly 282 million people in 59 countries and territories experienced high levels of acute hunger in 2023 — up 24 million from the previous year.
The increase was due to the report's increased coverage of food crisis contexts. But it also reflects a sharp deterioration in food security, notably in the Gaza Strip and Sudan.
Children and women have been hit the hardest. There were over 36 million acutely malnourished children under age 5 across 32 countries in 2023, according to the report, with conflict and disaster-related displacement a major contributing factor.
The report was produced by the Global Network Against Food Crises, a multistakeholder initiative that includes UNICEF and other United Nations organizations, the European Union and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In releasing the report, the partners noted an urgent need for transformative approaches that integrate peace, prevention and development action alongside at-scale emergency efforts in order to break the cycle.
"This crisis demands an urgent response," said António Guterres, UN, Secretary-General. "Using the data in this report to transform food systems and address the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition will be vital."
UNICEF works globally to strengthen systems for timely identification and treatment of malnourished children. UNICEF is also the world's largest supplier of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, a highly effective treatment for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, also known as wasting.
Related: How UNICEF responds to food crises and fights child malnutrition worldwide
The latest data on protracted hunger worldwide
There are 36 countries that have been included in the annual Global Report on Food Crises every year since 2016. Those countries represent 80 percent of the world's most hungry.
According to the 2024 report released on April 24, there was an increase of 1 million people facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity across 39 countries and territories — with the biggest increase in Sudan — in 2023. And there were over 705,000 people at catastrophe levels and risk of starvation in 2023 — a fourfold increase since 2016 and the most ever reported.
Conflict in the Gaza Strip accounted for 80 percent of those facing imminent famine. The other 20 percent were in Burkina Faso, Mali, Somalia and South Sudan.
The report further projets that another 1.1 million people in Gaza and 79,000 people in South Sudan will be at catastrophe levels by July 2024 for a total of 1.3 million.
Primary drivers of acute food insecurity
Conflict remained the primary driver of acute food insecurity — affecting 135 million people in 20 countries, according to the Global Report.
Extreme weather events were the primary drivers in 18 countries, affecting 77 million people. The year 2023 was the hottest year on record, and there were many episodes of severe flooding, storms, droughts, wildfires and pest and disease outbreaks, all contributors to food crises.
Economic shocks were a primary factor in 21 countries where around 75 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity due to their high dependency on food imports.
Breaking the cycle of food crises
The Global Report on Food Crises includes a section on what needs to be done to break the cycle of acute hunger.
It requires urgent long-term national and international investment to transform food systems and boost agricultural and rural development. It requires greater crisis preparedness and critical lifesaving assistance at scale, where people need it most.
Peace and prevention must also become an integral part of the longer-term food systems transformation, the report states. Without this, people will continue to face a lifetime of hunger and the most vulnerable will starve.
One issue is that needs have outpaced available resources. Humanitarian operations are overstretched. Many have had to scale down their support.
The report calls for more equitable and effective global economic governance, and government-led plans to match.
The report includes an offer by the Global Network Against Food Crises to leverage its knowledge to help strengthen linkages and build coherence among various global commitments and initiatives to ensure innovative and concrete impact for those affected by food crises.