Chapter 1 Sustainable Development Target 2.1: Undernourishment and Food Insecurity
1.2 Prevalence of food insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale
The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) is an estimate of the proportion of the population facing moderate or severe constraints on their ability to obtain sufficient food over the course of a year. People face moderate food insecurity when they are uncertain of their ability to obtain food and have been forced to reduce, at times over the year, the quality and/or quantity of food they consume due to lack of money or other resources. Severe food insecurity means that individuals have likely run out of food, experienced hunger and, at the most extreme, have gone for days without eating, putting their health and well-being at serious risk.
FIGURE 5.
Prevalence of food insecurity in the Arab States by country income group, conflict status and least developed country status
In 2023, moderate or severe food insecurity in the Arab region reached 39.4 percent, marking a 1.1 percentage points increase from the previous year. Interestingly, 2022 showed a 1.1 percentage points decrease from the preceding period, yet escalating conflicts in countries like the Sudan and Palestine suggest a likely continuation of this upward trend (Figure 5, Table 3). Compared to pre-COVID-19 levels with a prevalence of 33.4 percent in 2019, food insecurity increased by 4.9 percentage points in 2022 (to 38.3 percent).
TABLE 3.
Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity (percent)
Severe food insecurity
Moderate or severe food insecurity
2015
2019
2020
2022
2023
2015
2019
2020
2022
2023
World
7.5
9.1
10.6
10.8
10.7
21.5
25.0
28.8
28.9
28.9
Arab States
11.5
12.2
13.2
15.4
15.4
32.0
33.4
36.4
38.3
39.4
Low-income countries
17.5
21.6
24.7
27.2
29.0
50.7
53.5
59.9
64.8
68.5
Lower-middle-income countries
7.9
6.7
7.3
10.2
9.8
23.4
24.8
26.2
28.7
29.5
Upper-middle-income countries
17.8
18.3
16.9
18.6
15.8
38.8
39.5
43.3
41.4
38.5
High-income countries
6.4
7.4
7.6
6.2
6.8
21.0
19.3
19.6
16.3
16.7
Arab States LDCs
16.8
17.4
19.8
21.4
22.6
50.8
51.0
57.9
63.4
67.4
Countries affected by conflict
18.4
21.3
22.5
25.0
25.0
48.7
50.1
55.4
57.9
58.9
Countries not affected by conflict
7.8
7.1
7.9
9.7
9.6
22.9
24.0
25.6
26.9
27.8
Notes: Definitions of country groupings are contained in Annex IV. Source: Based on FAO. 2024. FAOSTAT: Suite of Food Security Indicators. [Accessed on 24 July 2024]. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.
However, disparities become apparent when examining the data by subgroups. Low-income countries faced the highest rates, with 68.5 percent experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2023, including 29.0 percent facing severe food insecurity, an alarming increase from 50.7 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively, in 2015. Lower-middle-income countries also witnessed a rise in moderate or severe food insecurity, climbing from 23.4 percent in 2015 to 29.5 percent in 2023. In contrast, upper-middle-income countries showed a slight decline in moderate or severe food insecurity from 38.8 percent in 2015 to 38.5 percent in 2023. High-income countries continued their downward trend from 21 percent in 2015 to 16.7 percent in 2023.
Arab States LDCs experienced a significant increase in food insecurity, rising from 50.8 percent in 2015 to 67.4 percent in 2023, with severe food insecurity increasing from 16.8 percent to 22.6 percent.
Countries affected by conflict reported a much higher prevalence of food insecurity in 2023 at 58.9 percent compared to countries not affected by conflict at 27.8 percent, highlighting a substantial gap of 31.1 percentage points between them.
FIGURE 6.
Number of severely food-insecure people in the Arab States by country income group, conflict status and least developed country status
Number of severely food-insecure people (millions)
2015
2017
2019
2020
2022
2023
World
554.1
613.0
706.1
827.9
861.7
864.1
Arab States
46.8
55.1
54.0
59.1
71.4
72.7
Low-income countries
17.4
19.8
23.9
28.2
32.7
36.0
Lower-middle-income countries
15.3
18.1
14.0
15.4
22.3
21.8
Upper-middle-income countries
10.6
12.7
11.8
11.1
12.7
10.9
High-income countries
3.4
4.4
4.3
4.4
3.6
4.0
Arab States LDCs
14.5
15.2
16.9
19.8
22.5
24.3
Countries affected by conflict
26.4
31.0
33.9
36.7
42.9
44.1
Countries not affected by conflict
20.4
24.1
20.1
22.5
28.4
28.6
Notes: Definitions of country groupings are contained in Annex IV. Source: Based on FAO. 2024. FAOSTAT: Suite of Food Security Indicators. [Accessed on 24 July 2024]. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.
In 2023, within the Arab States, 72.7 million people faced severe food insecurity, constituting approximately 8.4 percent of the global total (Figure 6, Table 4). Compared to pre-COVID-19 levels in 2019, when 54 million people in the Arab States were severely food insecure, this number reveals a stark 34.6 percent increase by 2023, underscoring vulnerabilities in regional agrifood systems. Although global severe food insecurity also rose by 22.4 percent during this period, the Arab States experienced a notably higher rate, likely exacerbated by recent regional challenges.
Breaking down the data by subgroup, conflict-affected countries housed the largest share of severely food-insecure individuals in 2023, totaling 44.1 million people, which accounts for about 60.7 percent of the regional total. The only subgroups to see a decrease in severe food insecurity from 2022 to 2023 were lower-middle-income countries (from 22.3 to 21.8 percent) and upper-middle-income countries (from 12.7 to 10.9 percent). Surprisingly, high-income countries saw an increase from 3.6 million to 4 million people between 2022 and 2023.
Compared to 2015, the most significant increase in severe food insecurity occurred in low-income countries, rising by 18.6 million people (an increase of 106.9 percent). Upper-middle-income countries showed the smallest increase of 300 thousand people. Overall, the region saw a rise of 25.9 million severely food-insecure individuals during this period, marking a 55.3 percent increase.
FIGURE 7.
Number of moderately or severely food-insecure people in the Arab States by country income group, conflict status and least developed country status
Number of moderately or severely food-insecure people (millions)
2015
2017
2019
2020
2022
2023
World
1 595.2
1 794.0
1 942.6
2 259.9
2 306.6
2 325.5
Arab States
130.3
152.6
147.6
163.6
178.2
186.5
Low-income countries
50.5
54.3
59.3
68.3
78.0
84.9
Lower-middle-income countries
45.4
60.1
51.6
55.3
62.4
65.1
Upper-middle-income countries
23.2
26.7
25.5
28.5
28.2
26.6
High-income countries
11.2
11.6
11.2
11.5
9.6
9.9
Arab States LDCs
43.8
46.3
49.5
57.7
66.5
72.5
Countries affected by conflict
70.0
76.5
79.7
90.4
99.3
103.9
Countries not affected by conflict
60.4
76.1
68.0
73.2
78.9
82.7
Notes: Definitions of country groupings are contained in Annex IV. Source: Based on FAO. 2024. FAOSTAT: Suite of Food Security Indicators. [Accessed on 24 July 2024]. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.
In 2023, approximately 186.5 million individuals in the Arab States faced moderate or severe food insecurity, making up about 8 percent of the global total (2 325.5 million people). The significant increase from 147.6 million to 186.5 million people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in the Arab States between 2019 and 2023 – a rise of 38.9 million – highlighted a 26.4 percent increase, surpassing the global increase of 19.7 percent during the same period, emphasizing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on regional agrifood systems, exacerbated by the effects of the war in Ukraine (Figure 7, Table 5), and, in general, the intensification of major drivers of food insecurity and nutrition, discussed in Part II of this report.
Throughout the years since 2015, countries affected by conflict consistently accounted for the highest share of the region’s total number of moderately or severely food-insecure individuals, comprising 55.7 percent in 2023.
FIGURE 8.
Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the Arab States by country income group and country
Note: The estimate for Palestine reflects the situation before the conflict erupted at the end of 2023. Definitions of country groupings are contained in Annex IV. Source: Based on FAO. 2024. FAOSTAT: Suite of Food Security Indicators. [Accessed on 24 July 2024]. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS. Licence: CC-BY-4.0. Download:https://doi.org/10.4060/cd3550en-fig08
The only two countries that reduced their prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity between 2014–2016 and 2021–2023 were Algeria (from 22.9 to 18.9 percent) and Kuwait (from 12.6 to 8.7 percent); Kuwait was the country with the lowest prevalence in 2021–2023 (Figure 8). Among subregions, the high-income group was the only one to lower its prevalence, declining from 20.4 to 17 percent. Conversely, the low-income group saw the largest increase, rising from 48.1 to 66.2 percent, largely driven by Yemen’s increase from 45.7 to 72.5 percent (Somalia did not report figures in 2014–2016). Within the lower-middle-income subgroup, the Comoros had the highest prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in 2021–2023 (79.7 percent). However, this subgroup also included countries like Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt which reported relatively lower rates (18.9, 26.7, and 29.8 percent, respectively). Due to data limitations, it is difficult to ascertain the trends in some countries in the region such as the Comoros, Djibouti, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates as these countries did not have prevalences reported for 2014–2016.
BOX 1
The Global Report on Food Crises and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification/Cadre Harmonisé (IPC/CH)
During the preparation of this report, deepening humanitarian crises continued to seriously erode food security in many countries. To inform decision-makers about this evolving situation, the Global Report on Food Crises details the acute food insecurity in a set of countries currently exposed to food crisis situations.i Both The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World and the Global Report on Food Crises are multipartnership efforts that provide international analyses of food security, but their objectives and geographical scope differ, as do the data and methodologies used for their analyses.
One important distinction is that, by reporting on SDG 2 indicators, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World has the broad objective of monitoring chronic food insecurity – defined as food insecurity that persists over time, largely due to structural causes – in all countries, on a regular basis. The focus of the Global Report on Food Crises, on the other hand, is on acute food insecurity, which refers to any manifestation of food insecurity at a specific point in time that is of a severity that threatens lives, livelihoods or both, regardless of the causes, context or duration. Analyses of acute food insecurity reported in the Global Report on Food Crises are based mainly on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification/Cadre Harmonisé (IPC/CH), and they differ considerably from those that inform the SDG indicators. Since timeliness is of the essence in crisis situations, IPC/CH rapid assessments are conducted by local teams of analysts through a consultative process among the main food security partners in the country, including government counterparts, aimed at finding convergence among all pieces of sometimes partial available evidence, including data from official and non-official sources commonly collected and used by the international humanitarian community.
In Yemen, from October 2023 to February 2024, about 4.6 million people experienced high levels of Acute Food Insecurity (IPC4 Phase 3 or above),ii with approximately 1.3 million classified in IPC Phase 4. Beyond conflict, food insecurity in Yemen is driven by high international food and fuel prices and the devaluation of the national currency. Similarly, in Somalia, from October to December 2023, approximately 4.3 million people faced severe acute food insecurity, classified as Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above).iii Among them, 3.3 million were categorized as Stressed (IPC Phase 3), and 1 million were in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). The primary drivers of food insecurity in Somalia are conflict, a high number of internally displaced people, and dependence on imported grains exacerbated by droughts. 4 The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Acute Food Insecurity (AFI) and Cadre Harmonisé (CH) classification provides differentiation between different levels of severity of acute food insecurity, classifying units of analysis in five distinct phases: (1) Minimal/None, (2) Stressed, (3) Crisis, (4) Emergency, (5) Catastrophe/Famine.
In Gaza, the conflict has resulted in an unprecedented death toll, destruction and mass displacement, combined with heavy restrictions on commercial goods, while humanitarian assistance faces extreme access constraints.i As of 20 June 2024, the ongoing hostilities have reportedly caused more than 122 000 casualties within the Gaza Stripiv – more than 5 percent of the total population. The food security situation in Gaza continues to be catastrophic. According to the latest IPC analysis, the whole population of Gaza is experiencing high levels of food insecurity at Phase 3 (Crisis) or higher.v Half of the Gaza Strip’s population (1.11 million people) is expected to face catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5), the most severe level in the IPC Acute Food Insecurity scale.
The hostilities have caused widespread damage to assets and infrastructure indispensable to survival. As of 20 May 2024, 57.3 percent (8 660 ha) of all cropland has been damaged (FAO, 2024a).vi Home barns (537), broiler farms (484) and sheep farms (397) were the most damaged agricultural infrastructures.vii The conflict can also exacerbate already high food security needs in Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic.
In 2023, both globally and within the Arab region, the prevalence of food insecurity was notably higher among women (Figure 9, Table A-5). In the Arab region, the gender gap in moderate or severe food insecurity is 4.0 percentage points, in severe food insecurity it is 1.6 percentage points, with women being more food insecure than men. Looking at income classification, women are more food insecure than men in all regions, with the exception of high-income countries, where food insecurity is more widespread among men compared to women.
