AFRICA Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023: Statistics and Trends

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.

The most recent estimates show that in 2022, the proportion of the population in Africa that faced moderate or severe food insecurity reached 61 percent. This prevalence is very high and is more than twice the prevalence of 29.6 percent at the global level. The new estimates also show that the severe form of food insecurity affected 24 percent of the population on the continent (FIGURE 5 and TABLE 3).

In 2022, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity was the highest in Central Africa (78.4 percent), followed by Eastern Africa (69.2 percent) and Western Africa (66.4 percent). In terms of severe food insecurity in 2022, the prevalence is highest in Central Africa and Eastern Africa subregions (FIGURE 5 and TABLE 3).

The increase in the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity from 2021 to 2022 is highest in Central Africa (3.0 percentage points), followed by Eastern Africa (2.4 percentage points) and Southern Africa (1.2 percentage points). Between the two years, the prevalence of severe food insecurity rose by 1.5 percentage points in Southern Africa, 1.3 percentage points in Central Africa, and less than 1 percentage point in both Northern Africa and Western Africa.

Over the three years of the COVID 19 pandemic (2020–2022), the largest increase in moderate or severe food insecurity was in Western Africa with 14.7 percentage points and Eastern Africa with 5.7 percentage points. Between 2015 and 2022, the 15.5 percentage-point increase in the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in Africa was mainly driven by steep increases in Western Africa and Eastern Africa of 26.6 percentage points and 12.4 percentage points, respectively (TABLE 3).

Translating the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity into population numbers presents a clear picture of where the food-insecure people live on the continent. It is estimated that in 2022, approximately 868 million people experienced food insecurity in Africa, with 342 million people suffering from severe food insecurity (FIGURE 6 and TABLE 4). Overall, Eastern Africa, Western Africa and Central Africa were the worst affected subregions, and together they were home to the majority – about 766 million moderately or severely food-insecure people.

The food insecurity situation worsened substantially on the continent since 2019, the year that preceded the COVID 19 pandemic. Compared to 2019, an estimated additional 37 million people in 2020, 26 million in 2021, and 11 million in 2022 were severely food insecure in Africa – an increase of about 74 million people in three years. Eastern Africa consistently had the largest number of people facing food insecurity among the subregions, although Central Africa had the highest prevalence in the years for which data were available for the subregion.

At subregional level and since 2019, the number of people affected by severe food insecurity increased by 28 million in Western Africa, nearly 22 million in Eastern Africa, 10 million in Northern Africa, and 2.4 million in Southern Africa (TABLE 4). Similarly, for moderately or severely food-insecure people, the number increased by 79 million in Western Africa, 50 million in Eastern Africa, 13 million in Northern Africa, and 3 million in Southern Africa (TABLE 5). In Central Africa, data and estimates are not available for 2019; however, between 2020 and 2022, the number of severely food-insecure people increased by 5 million while the number of moderately or severely food-insecure people reached 24 million.

The three-year (2020–2022) average estimates show that more than 75 percent of the population were moderately or severely food insecure in 12 countries whereas Seychelles and Algeria had a prevalence below 20 percent. There was an increase of food insecurity in 30 out of the 34 countries for which estimates are available for 2014–2016 and 2020–2022. While the increase may be marginal in Egypt, Ghana, Guinea and Seychelles, only Algeria recorded a decrease in food insecurity over the period (FIGURE 8).

More women were affected by moderate or severe food insecurity in 2022 than men in Africa, with prevalence of 59.9 percent and 58.7 percent, respectively. The gender disparity is larger at the global level – a 2.4 percentage-point difference, compared to 1.2 percentage points in Africa. At the subregional levels, the differences in food insecurity between men and women are relatively small, with the largest gaps observed in Eastern Africa and Northern Africa (1.9 percentage points each). In Southern Africa, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity is slightly higher among men (26 percent) compared to women (25.1 percent) (FIGURE 9).

Since 2019, more women were affected by moderate or severe food insecurity than men in Africa, despite the fact that the gap is narrowing toward gender parity. The gender gap in food insecurity narrowed slightly between men and women in the region between 2020 and 2022, with the largest decrease observed in Western Africa (TABLE 6). However, the difference increased from 0.7 percentage point to 1.9 percentage point in Eastern Africa, and from 0.3 percentage point to 1.9 percentage points in Northern Africa between 2020 and 2022. A reversal was recorded in Southern Africa, where more women were affected by moderate or severe food insecurity than men in 2019 and 2020, with the opposite recorded in 2022.