ROME, ITALY — The number of hungry people worldwide is on the rise, reaching 821 million in 2017, or one in every nine people, according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018.

In addition, slow progress is being made in addressing malnutrition such as child stunting and adult obesity.

Hunger is returning to levels from a decade ago, according to the United Nations’ report. Climate variability affecting rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons, and climate extremes such as droughts and floods, are among the key drivers behind the rise in hunger, together with conflict and economic slowdowns, the report found.



Climate changes are undermining production of major crops such as wheat, rice and maize in tropical and temperate regions, and it is expected to worsen as temperatures increase and become more extreme, according to the report.


Temperature anomalies over agricultural cropping areas continued to be higher than the long-term mean throughout 2011-16, leading to more frequent spells of extreme heat in the last five years. The nature of rainfall seasons is also changing, such as the late or early start of rainy seasons and the unequal distribution of rainfall within a season. 


Poor progress has been made in reducing child stunting, the report said, with nearly 151 million children aged under five too short for their age due to malnutrition in 2017, compared to 165 million in 2012. Globally, Africa and Asia accounted for 39% and 55% of all stunted children, respectively.




