Skip to content
Equality

One-Tenth of the World Is Hungry, and War Risks Worsening the Crisis

  • About 768 million were undernourished in 2021, UN agencies say
  • War in Ukraine threatens global food security in the near-term
A volunteer distributes free food packs on the street in Mumbai, India.

A volunteer distributes free food packs on the street in Mumbai, India.

Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
By

A 10th of the world went hungry last year, and the war in Ukraine is threatening efforts to eradicate the problem by the end of the decade.

The number of undernourished people rose by about 6% to roughly 768 million last year, an annual report by United Nations agencies shows. The increase highlights the world’s uneven recovery from the Covid pandemic and how high food costs are putting healthy diets out of reach for many around the globe.