Chapter 1 Sustainable Development Goal 2.1: Undernourishment and Food Insecurity

Key messages
  • Hunger in the Arab States reached its highest value in 2022 since 2000. The number of undernourished people was 59.8 million in 2022, 75.9 percent higher than in 2000. This corresponded to 12.9 percent of the population in 2022, well above the world average of 9.2 percent.
  • The prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) was the highest in low-income countries and Arab States least developed countries (LDCs), where almost every third person suffered from hunger. Somalia had the highest PoU level (48.7 percent), followed by Yemen (34.5 percent), and the Syrian Arab Republic (27.8 percent). Undernourishment in conflict countries (23.6 percent) was almost four times higher than in non-conflict countries (6.6 percent) in 2022. In upper-middle-income countries, hunger was also higher (16.3 percent) than the average of Arab States. Undernourishment is less frequent in lower-middle-income countries (6.6 percent). High-income countries had a very low level of PoU (2.8 percent).
  • Hunger in the Arab region reached its lowest level in 2010, before the Arab Spring, when 9.7 percent of the region’s population suffered from hunger. PoU rose sharply, by one-third from 2010 until 2022, which has been driven mainly by the increase in hunger in upper-middle-income countries and lower-middle-income countries due to socio-economic and commodity price shocks, such as the effects of the Arab Spring, the increase of food prices in 2007–2011, and recently the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
  • Moderate or severe food insecurity affected 170.1 million people, or 36.6 percent of the population in 2022, a slight decrease from 2021, when 173.3 million people, or 37.9 percent of the population were food insecure, deprived of regular access to sufficient and nutritious food. In 2022, 61.0 million people suffered from severe food insecurity, which is another measure that approximates hunger. This is an increase of 3.8 million people from the previous year.
  • Recent trends in hunger and food insecurity suggest that the region is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger (SDG 2) by 2030.