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State Of Food Security And Nutrition In The World 2020

  • 16 Jul 2020

  • The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 (SOFI 2020) report presents the most recent and authoritative estimates of the extent of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition around the world.
  • This year, the report includes a special focus on transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets.
  • The report has been brought out by five UN agencies- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization WHO).

Findings

  • Nearly 690 million people, or 8.9% of the world’s population, went hungry in 2019, an increase of 10 million since 2018 and of nearly 60 million since 2014. 
  • The hungry are most numerous in Asia, but expanding fastest in Africa.
  • Across the planet, the report forecasts, that the COVID-19 pandemic could push over 130 million more people into chronic hunger by the end of 2020.
  • In percentage terms, Africa is the hardest hit region and becoming more so, with 19.1 % of its people undernourished. At the current trends, by 2030, Africa will be home to more than half of the World’s chronically hungry.

The Report on India

  • Undernourished Population: The number of undernourished people in India has declined by 60 million in over a decadethere were less stunted children but more obese adults in the country.
  • Progress towards ending Hunger and Malnutrition: The number of undernourished people in India declined from 249.4 million in 2004-06 to 189.2 million in 2017-19.In percentage terms, the prevalence of undernourishment in the total population in India declined from 21.7 % in 2004-06 to 14 % in 2017-19.
  • Stunting: The prevalence of stunting in children under 5 years of age in India declined from 47.8% in 2012 to 34.7% in 2019 or from 62 million in 2012 to 40.3 million in 2019.
  • Obesity: More Indian adults became obese between 2012 and 2016. The number of adults (18 years and older) who are obese grew from 25.2 million in 2012 to 34.3 million in 2016, growing from 3.1 % to 3.9 %.
  • Anaemic Women: The number of women of reproductive age (15-49) affected by anaemia grew from 165.6 million in 2012 to 175.6 million in 2016.
  • Breast Feeding: The number of infants 0-5 months of age exclusively breastfed grew from 11.2 million in 2012 to 13.9 million in 2019.