- According to a UN report titled “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World”,more than 820 million people had suffered from hunger worldwide in 2018.
- The report was prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other United Nations agencies including the World Health Organization(WHO).
- The report said that globally hunger is increasing in many countries where economic growth is lagging, particularly in middle-income countries and those that rely heavily on commodity trade.
- The report also found that income inequality is rising in many of the countries where hunger is on the rise making it even more difficult for the poor,vulnerable or marginalised to cope with economic slowdowns and downturns.
- The report also says that after decades of decline,malnutrition has began to increase in 2015 mainly because of climate change and war.
- In Asia,despite great progress in the last five years,South Asia is still the subregion where the prevalence of undernourishment is highest at almost 15%.
- The report has also noted that poverty rates have declined between 3% and 6% per year in countries such as El Salvador,Ghana, India, Tunisia and Uganda.
- The report says that the prevalence of undernourishment in India has declined from 22.2% in 2004-06 to 14.5% between 2016 and 2018. However,the number of adults (18 years and older) who are obese in India has grown from 24.1 million in 2012 to 32.8 million in 2016.
- Further,it says that in the Indian Himalayas,economic slowdown coupled with natural resource depletion and climate change has negatively impacted on food production and employment opportunities.This resulted in increased threats to food security due to lower purchasing power.
