In 59 countries, nearly 282 million people suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza as the territory with the largest number of people facing famine, according to the Global Report on Food Crises released on Wednesday.
Due to the sharp deterioration in food security, especially in the Gaza Strip and Sudan, 24 million more people faced an acute lack of food than in 2022, according to the UN report. Also, the number of nations with food crises that are monitored has been expanded.
Máximo Torero, chief economist for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, said that in five countries, 705,000 people are at Phase 5 (the highest level) on a scale of hunger determined by international experts. This is the highest number since the global report began in 2016.
More than 80 per cent of those facing imminent famine (577,000 people) were in Gaza, Torero said.
As per the report’s future outlook, around 1.1 million people in Gaza and 79,000 in South Sudan are projected to be in Phase 5 and facing famine by July. In Gaza, the Israel-Hamas war is now in its seventh month.
The report is the flagship publication of the Food Security Information Network. It is based on a collaboration of 16 partners including regional and multinational bodies, the European Union, UN agencies, the US Agency for International Development, technical organisations, and others.
