FAO Digital Media Hub - Audio News Release - ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY AND MALNUTRITION RISE FOR SIXTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR IN WORLD’S MOST FRAGILE REGIONS

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Audio News Release - ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY AND MALNUTRITION RISE FOR SIXTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR IN WORLD’S MOST FRAGILE REGIONS

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Audio News Release - ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY AND MALNUTRITION RISE FOR SIXTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR IN WORLD’S MOST FRAGILE REGIONS

Soundbites from the Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Rein Paulsen, commenting the main findings of the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises.

The report shows that in 2024, more than 295 million people across 53 countries and territories experienced acute levels of hunger– an increase of 13.7 million from 2023. Of great concern is the worsening prevalence of acute food insecurity, which now stands at 22.6 percent of the population assessed; the fifth consecutive year at over 20 percent. Nearly 38 million children under five were acutely malnourished across 26 crisis-hit countries.

Conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes, and displacement continued to drive food insecurity and malnutrition around the world, with catastrophic impacts on many already fragile regions. Child malnutrition reached extremely high levels, including in the Gaza Strip, Mali, Sudan, and Yemen, shows the report, authored by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC), an alliance of humanitarian and development actors launched by FAO with other partners in 2016.

Language English

Script Timecodes and transcript of Mr. Rein Paulsen’s soundbites:

00:00-00:50 - The report, the data, and the drivers of food crisis
The 2025 Global Report on Food Crisis paints a staggering picture. 295 million people are acutely food insecure in 53 countries and territories, and a prevalence rate of acute food insecurity of some 22.6%. The main factors behind these increasing numbers are threefold. In the first instance, conflict and insecurity is the primary driver, remains the primary driver, for acute food insecurity. Weather extremes is the second most important factor. And economic issues and challenges the third most important factor. And the analysis shows, of course, that in many of the crisis contexts, these three factors are often overlapping.

00:51-01:34 - Extreme hunger
When we talk about the most extreme form of acute hunger, what we classify as IPC 5, as we're seeing in Gaza, as we're seeing in Sudan, as we're seeing in Haiti and Mali, these contexts are all touched by conflict and violence in different ways. And in practical terms, what this often means is an inability to physically access people who are most urgently in need of assistance. Just to be clear, when we say IPC phase five, we are talking here about extreme hunger. We are talking about famine or the risk of famine. We are talking about starvation.

01:36-02:11 - The positive impact of humanitarian assistance
If we compare the situation year on year and we see that in 19 countries in context, the situation worsened in terms of acute food insecurity, but in 15 countries and contexts, the situation improved. And just to mention a few of those. Afghanistan, Ukraine, Guatemala, Kenya. These are all countries where, because of humanitarian assistance, because of the right types of interventions, including emergency agricultural interventions, there are millions fewer people in need of assistance this year compared to last year.

02:12-03:04 - The mixed picture of Latin America and the Caribbean: Guatemala and Haiti
With Latin America and the Caribbean, the report paints a mixed picture. There is some good news and there is some cause for concern. A good news example that I would highlight is Guatemala, where we have seen the situation improve due to better agricultural production, better weather conditions, improved and increased remittance flows to the country. It means that there are 1.2 million people less who are acutely food insecure in Guatemala. On the other hand, if we look at Haiti as a key example, we see that Haiti is one of the five contexts in which we find a population in the most extreme form of acute food insecurity. So Latin America gives us a really mixed picture, positive results and real areas for concern as well.

Duration 3m4s

File size 4.21 MB

UNFAO Source FAO Audio

Unique identifier UF19ZED