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Rabat – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released this week its yearly Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition report for Near East and North Africa, revealing rising hunger numbers in the region.
The number of hungry people and food insecure households in the region has continued to increase since 2014, according to the report.
In 2020, 15.8% of the region’s population — 69 million people — were undernourished, marking an increase of more than 90% over the last two decades.
The report attributes the rise in 2020 to the economic shock brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the rise was recorded among all income levels in both conflict-free and conflict countries.
A previous spike was recorded in 2011, due to the wave of uprisings in the region.
Moderate food insecurity also recorded a sharp rise. More than a third of the region’s population had no regular access to sufficient nutrients in 2020.
Almost 50 million people also experienced severe food insecurity, marking an increase of about 3 million from the previous year.
The number of undernourished and obese people in Morocco also recorded a rise compared to past data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The report notes that it will be very hard for the region to recover and achieve zero hunger.
“The region has already been off track to eliminate hunger and food insecurity because of pre-existing vulnerabilities and exposure to multiple shocks and stresses such as poverty, inequality, conflict, climate change and many others,” the report says.
Obesity and the number of overweight people also recorded a rise, indicating an increasing social class rift.
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Other indicators like low birthweight, however, showed a steady and consistent improvement across the region, with birthweight in particular being higher in the region than the global average.
