A recent report by the Global Network against Food Crises (GNAFC) revealed that in 2023, more than 282 million people across 59 countries and territories were acutely malnourished.

The staggering number marks an increase of 24 million compared to 2022, the 2024 Global Report on Food Crisis noted.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which launched GNAFC back in 2016, the main reasons for food insecurity and hunger across the globe are economic shocks, often sparked by conflict, as well as climate change.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia are the top five countries where people face extreme levels of acute food insecurity. Palestine, South Sudan, Yemen, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Haiti, on the other hand, have the largest share of the analyzed population facing high levels of hunger, according to Africa News, citing the report.

According to Rein Paulsen, Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience, one of the report’s key findings is that a significant portion of the population—21.5% of the total population—faced a food crisis in 2023. This figure has remained consistently high throughout time.

“Even more than the absolute numbers, I think one of the most important findings is that the prevalence, so the percentage of the assessed population in acute food insecurity, remained stubbornly high in 2023,” Paulsen said.