Some 735 million people – or 9.2% of the population – were undernourished in 2022 as a result of the pandemic and Ukraine’s conflict, based on UN agencies data aggreggated by Bloomberg.
Access to food is limited by the lingering impact of the Covid crisis on incomes and economies, as well as soaring food and energy prices.
Nearly 600 million people are projected to still face hunger in 2030, meaning that the world is a long way off a goal to eliminate hunger by that year.
The situation is particularly dire throughout Africa, where the number of undernourished people is only increasing, unlike in other regions.
Meanwhile, the West is still restricting free exports of Russian agricultural products to Africa, with the Grain Deal having no effect on improving the picture.
The result of this hypocrisy is that while Africa has been starving, Russia’s huge grain reserves, nearly twice as much as last year due to a bumper crop, are simply rotting without ever reaching the starving.