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    The 2015 State of Food Insecurity in the World
    The 2015 State of Food Insecurity in the World
    The 2015 State of Food Insecurity in the World
    Ebook153 pages1 hour

    The 2015 State of Food Insecurity in the World

    By Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

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    This year ́s annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report takes stock of progress made towards achieving the internationally established Millennium Development Goal (MDG1) and World Food Summit hunger targets and reflects on what needs to be done, as we transition to the new post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. The report reviews progress made since 1990 for every country and region as well as for the world as a whole. Progress towards the MDG 1 target, however, is assessed not only by measuring undernourishment, or hunger, but also by a second indicator – the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age. Progress for the two indicators across regions and over time, is compared, providing insights into the complexity of food security. Overall progress notwithstanding, much work remains to be done to eradicate hunger and achieve food security across all its dimensions. The 2015 report not only estimates the progress already achieved, but also identifies remaining problems, and provides guidance on which policies should be emphasized in the future. Key factors that have determined success to date towards food security and nutrition goals are identified. The list of factors – economic growth, agricultural productivity growth, markets (including international trade) and social protection – is by no means exhaustive. The report also shows how protracted crises, due to conflict or natural disasters, have deleterious effects on progress in hunger reduction.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
    Release dateMay 27, 2015
    ISBN9789251087992
    The 2015 State of Food Insecurity in the World
    Author

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

    An intergovernmental organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in. FAO’s staff capacity allows it to support improved governance inter alia, generate, develop and adapt existing tools and guidelines and provide targeted governance support as a resource to country and regional level FAO offices. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, FAO is present in over 130 countries.Founded in 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO provides a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. The Organization publishes authoritative publications on agriculture, fisheries, forestry and nutrition.

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      The 2015 State of Food Insecurity in the World - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

      Key messages

      About 795 million people are undernourished globally, down 167 million over the last decade, and 216 million less than in 1990–92. The decline is more pronounced in developing regions, despite significant population growth. In recent years, progress has been hindered by slower and less inclusive economic growth as well as political instability in some developing regions, such as Central Africa and western Asia.

      The year 2015 marks the end of the monitoring period for the Millennium Development Goal targets. For the developing regions as a whole, the share of undernourished people in the total population has decreased from 23.3 percent in 1990–92 to 12.9 per cent. Some regions, such as Latin America, the east and south-eastern regions of Asia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and the northern and western regions of Africa have made fast progress. Progress was also recorded in southern Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean and southern and eastern Africa, but at too slow a pace to reach the MDG 1c target of halving the proportion of the chronically undernourished.

      A total of 72 developing countries out of 129, or more than half the countries monitored, have reached the MDG 1c hunger target. Most enjoyed stable political conditions and economic growth, often accompanied by social protection policies targeted at vulnerable population groups.

      For the developing regions as a whole, the two indicators of MDG 1c – the prevalence of undernourishment and the proportion of underweight children under 5 years of age – have both declined. In some regions, including western Africa, south-eastern Asia and South America, undernourishment declined faster than the rate for child underweight, suggesting room for improving the quality of diets, hygiene conditions and access to clean water, particularly for poorer population groups.

      Economic growth is a key success factor for reducing undernourishment, but it has to be inclusive and provide opportunities for improving the livelihoods of the poor. Enhancing the productivity and incomes of smallholder family farmers is key to progress.

      Social protection systems have been critical in fostering progress towards the MDG 1 hunger and poverty targets in a number of developing countries. Social protection directly contributes to the reduction of poverty, hunger and malnutrition by promoting income security and access to better nutrition, health care and education. By improving human capacities and mitigating the impacts of shocks, social protection fosters the ability of the poor to participate in growth through better access to employment.

      In many countries that have failed to reach the international hunger targets, natural and human-induced disasters or political instability have resulted in protracted crises with increased vulnerability and food insecurity of large parts of the population. In such contexts, measures to protect vulnerable population groups and improve livelihoods have been difficult to implement or ineffective.

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      Required citation:

      FAO, IFAD and WFP. 2015. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015. Meeting the 2015 international hunger targets: taking stock of uneven progress.

      Rome, FAO.

      The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) or of the World Food Programme (WFP) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO, IFAD or WFP in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

      The designations employed and the presentation of material in the maps do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO, IFAD or WFP concerning the legal or constitutional status of any country, territory or sea area, or concerning the delimitation of frontiers.

      ISBN 978-92-5-108785-5

      E-ISBN 978-92-5-108799-2 (EPUB)

      FAO encourages the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, or for use in non-commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO as the source and copyright holder is given and that FAO's endorsement of users' views, products or services is not implied in any way.

      All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be made via www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request or addressed to copyright@fao.org.

      FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through publications-sales@fao.org.

      © FAO 2015

      CONTENTS

      Foreword

      Acknowledgements

      Undernourishment around the world in 2015

      The global trends

      Wide differences persist among regions

      Key findings

      Inside the hunger target: comparing trends in undernourishment and underweight in children

      Regional patterns

      Key findings

      Food security and nutrition: the drivers of change

      Economic growth and progress towards food security and nutrition targets

      The contribution of family farming and smallholder agriculture to food security and nutrition

      International trade and food security linkages

      The relevance of social protection for hunger trends between 1990 and 2015

      Protracted crises and hunger

      Key findings

      Technical annex

      Annex 1: Prevalence of undernourishment and progress towards the World Food Summit (WFS) and the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets in developing regions

      Annex 2: Methodology for assessing food security and progress towards the international hunger targets

      Annex 3: Glossary of selected terms used in the report

      Notes

      FOREWORD

      This year's annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report takes stock of progress made towards achieving the internationally established hunger targets, and reflects on what needs to be done, as we transition to the new post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda.

      United Nations member states have made two major commitments to tackle world hunger. The first was at the World Food Summit (WFS), in Rome in 1996, when 182 governments committed "... to eradicate hunger in all countries, with an immediate view to reducing the number of undernourished people to half their present level no later than 2015". The second was the formulation of the First Millennium Development Goal (MDG 1), established in 2000 by the United Nations members, which includes among its targets "cutting by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015".

      In this report, we review progress made since 1990 for every country and region as well as for the world as a whole. First, the good news: overall, the commitment to halve the percentage of hungry people, that is, to reach the MDG 1c target, has been almost met at the global level. More importantly, 72 of the 129 countries monitored for progress have reached the MDG target, 29 of which have also reached the more ambitious WFS goal by at least halving the number of undernourished people in their populations.

      Marked differences in progress occur not only among individual countries, but also across regions and subregions. The prevalence of hunger has been reduced rapidly in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia as well as in Latin America; in Northern Africa, a low level has been maintained throughout the MDG and WFS monitoring periods. Other regions, including the Caribbean, Oceania and Western Asia, saw some overall progress, but at a slower pace. In two regions, Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, progress has been slow overall, despite many success stories at country and subregional levels. In many countries that have achieved modest progress, factors such as war, civil unrest and the displacement of refugees have often frustrated efforts to reduce hunger, sometimes even raising the ranks of the hungry.

      Progress towards the MDG 1c target, however, is assessed not only by measuring undernourishment, or hunger, but also by a second indicator – the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age. Progress for the two indicators was similar, but slightly faster in the case

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