ASIA AND THE PACIFIC Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023: Statistics and Trends

The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is pleased to launch the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023: Statistics and Trends. This report offers the readers a glimpse on how the region, in general, and the Member Nations, in particular, are progressing in terms of meeting selected 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and World Health Assembly (WHA) global nutrition targets.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the “5Fs” crisis – Food, Feed, Fuel, Fertilizers and Finance – the region witnessed harrowing statistics. Even to date, the region is still suffering from some protracted effects. The latest statistics indicate that the region, with 370.7 million undernourished people, continues to represent half of the global total. Similarly, the Asia and the Pacific region accounts for half of the world’s severe food insecurity, with more women than men being food insecure. Prevalence rates on stunting, wasting and overweight among children under 5 years of age, as well as anaemia among women of reproductive age, are still off the marks in terms of World Health Assembly global nutrition targets. These problems are compounded by the rising cost of a healthy diet, which rose on average to 5.3 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars per person per day in 2021 – higher than the world’s average of 4.3 PPP dollars per person per day. It is estimated that in 2021, 232.8 million people in the region could not afford the cost of a healthy diet.

This report is by no means exhaustive. However, the facts presented serve as food for thought. At the same time, they will not put meals on the table of the many food-insecure and nutritionally vulnerable people living in this part of the world. Given the conclusions and recommendations from the recently conducted Global Stocktaking Moment of the UN Food Systems Summit, I call upon Member Nations, with support from development partners, to seize the moment to translate their national pathways on agrifood systems transformation. Clearly, there is an urgent call for whole-of-government, well-coordinated and integrated actions and investments towards agrifood systems transformation if we are to turn the tide and put the countries back on track to meeting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

Jong-Jin Kim

Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations