The State Of Food Security And Nutrition In The World 2017

FOREWORDFOREWORDworrisome finding is that after a prolongeddecline, the most recent estimates indicatethat global hunger increased in 2016 andnow affects 815 million people. Moreover,although still well below levels of a decadeago, the percentage of the global populationestimated to be suffering from hunger alsoincreased in 2016. In parts of the world, thisrecent surge in hunger reached an extremelevel, with a famine declared in areas ofSouth Sudan in early 2017 and alerts of highrisk of famine issued for three other contexts(northeast Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen).The transformational vision of the 2030 Agendafor Sustainable Development calls on allcountries and stakeholders to work together toend hunger and prevent all forms ofmalnutrition by 2030. This ambition can onlybe fulfilled if agriculture and food systemsbecome sustainable, so that food suppliesare stable and all people have access to adequatenutrition and health. The start ofthe 2030 Agenda coincided with the launch ofthe United Nations Decade of Action onNutrition (2016 –2025), adding impetus to thesecommitments by providing a time-bound,cohesive framework for action.In 2016, the food securit y situationdeteriorated sharply in parts of sub-SaharanAfrica, South-Eastern Asia and Western Asia.This was most notable in situations of conf lict,in particular where the food securit y impactsof conf lict were compounded by droughts orf loods, linked in part to the El Niñophenomenon. However, worsening foodsecurit y conditions have also been obser ved inmore peaceful settings, especially whereeconomic slowdown has drained foreignexchange and fiscal revenues, affecting bothfood availabilit y through reduced importcapacit y and food access through reducedfiscal space to protect poor households againstrising domestic food prices.This year’s edition of The State of Food Securityand Nutrition in the World marks thebeginning of a new era in monitoring theprogress made towards achieving a worldwithout hunger and malnutrition, within theframework of the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs). Specifically, the report willhenceforth monitor progress towards both thetargets of ending hunger (SDG Target 2.1)and all forms of malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2).It will also include thematic analyses of howfood security and nutrition are related toprogress on other SDG targets. Given thebroadened scope to include a focus onnutrition, UNICEF and the World HealthOrganization (WHO) have joined thetraditional partnership of FAO, IFAD andWFP in preparing this annual report.We hope our expanded partnership willresult in a more comprehensive and integralunderstanding of what it will take to endhunger and all forms of malnutrition,and in more-integrated actions to achievethis critical goal.The rising trend in undernourishment has notyet been reflected in rates of child stunting,which continue to fall. Nonetheless, the worldis still home to 155 million stunted children.Levels of child stunting are still unacceptablyhigh in some regions, and if current trendscontinue, the SDG target on reducing childstunting by 2030 will not be reached. Wastingalso continues to threaten the lives of almost52 million children (8 percent of children underfive years of age), while childhood overweightThe challenges we face are significant.As shown in Part 1 of the report, a key vi

malnutrition by 2030 unless we address all thefactors that undermine food security andnutrition. Securing peaceful and inclusivesocieties (SDG 16) is a necessary condition tothat end.and obesity rates are on the rise in mostregions and in all regions for adults – all ofwhich highlights the multiple burden ofmalnutrition as a cause for serious concern.The failure to reduce world hunger is closelyassociated with the increase in conflict andviolence in several parts of the world. Part 2 ofthis year’s report attempts to provide a clearerunderstanding of the nexus between conflictand food security and nutrition, and todemonstrate why efforts at fighting hunger mustgo hand-in-hand with those to sustain peace.Over the past decade, conflicts have risendramatically in number and become morecomplex and intractable in nature. Some of thehighest proportions of food-insecure andmalnourished children are found in countriesaffected by conflict, a situation that is evenmore alarming in countries characterized byprolonged conflicts and fragile institutions. Thishas set off alarm bells we cannot afford toignore: we will not end hunger and all forms ofWe are more determined and committed thanever to step up concerted action to fulfil theambitions of the 2030 Agenda and achieve aworld free from hunger, malnutrition and poverty.Ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition is anambitious goal, but it is one we strongly believecan be reached if we strengthen our commonefforts and work to tackle the underlying causesthat leave so many people food-insecure,jeopardizing their lives, futures, and the futuresof their societies. It is clear that conflict is asignificant challenge to meeting this goal andwill require multisector humanitarian,development and peace strategies that addressimmediate needs while making the necessaryinvestments to build resilience for lasting peaceand food security and nutrition for all.José Graziano da SilvaGilbert F. HoungboAnthony LakeFAO Director-GeneralIFAD PresidentUNICEF Executive DirectorDavid BeasleyTedros Adhanom GhebreyesusWFP Executive DirectorWHO Director-General vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017 was jointly prepared by the Food and AgricultureOrganization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), theUnited Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World HealthOrganization (WHO).Under the overall leadership of Kostas Stamoulis, the technical coordination of the publication wascarried out by Rob Vos and José Rosero of FAO’s Economic and Social Development Department (ES), incollaboration with Ashwani Muthoo and Paul Winters (IFAD), Victor Ag uayo (UNICEF), Francesco Branca( W HO) and Arif Husain ( W FP). Carlo Cafiero and Cindy Holleman (FAO), Constanza Di Nucci (IFAD),Chika Hayashi (UNICEF), Yvonne Forsén ( W FP) and Marzella Wüstefeld ( W HO) contributed as technicaleditors. Valuable comments and final approval of the report were provided by the executive heads andsenior staff of the five co-authoring agencies.Part 1 of the report was prepared with the additional technical expertise of: Juan Feng, Filippo Gheri,Klaus Grunberger, Anne Kepple, Nathalie Troubat and Sara Viviani (FAO); Maaike Arts, Yarlini Balarajan,France Begin, Julia Krasevec and Roland Kupka (UNICEF); Jean-Baptiste Pasquier and Gaurav Singhal( W FP); and Elaine Borghi, Diana Estevez, Laurence Grummer-Strawn and Lisa Rogers ( W HO).Part 2 of the report was prepared with additional technical support from Ellen Andresen, Julius Jackson,Domitille Kauffmann, Marco Sánchez Cantillo and Trudy Wijnhoven (FAO); Marian Odenigbo (IFAD);Maureen Louise Gallagher, Diane Holland and Ruth Situma (UNICEF); James Feeney ( W FP); andMargaret Orunya Lamunu, Adelheid Marschang and Zita Weise Prinzo ( W HO). Background papers wereprepared by Tilman Brück, Marco D’Ericco, Negar Habibi, Charles Martin-Shields, Alex Segovia,Astrid Sneyers, Wolfgang Stojetz and Stijn van Weezel. viii

Valuable comments and inputs on the report were provided by Asha Bradley, Dominique Burgeon,Günter Hemrich, Michelle Kendrick, Josef Schmidhuber, Andreas Thulstrup, and Natalia Winder-Rossi(FAO); Rui Benfica, Juliane Friedrich, Shantanu Mathur and Abdelkarim Sma (IFAD); Monika Blössner,Juliet Maina, Stefan Savin, and Julius Wekesa ( W HO).Filippo Gheri and Sara Viviani were responsible for preparing undernourishment and food securit y data,with inputs from Klaus Grunberger, Chiamaka Nwosu and Marinella Cirillo. Supporting data wereprovided by Salar Tay yib and the Food Balance Sheets team of the FAO Statistics Division (ESS).The statistics on child anthropometr y (wasting, stunting, overweight) were prepared by theUNICEF-W HO-the World Bank Group Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates group. Diana Estevez wasresponsible for consolidating the nutrition data with inputs from Elaine Borghi, Leanne Riley,Lisa Rogers, Gretchen Stevens and Laurence Grummer-Strawn ( W HO); and Julia Krasevec, Nona Reuterand Chika Hayashi (UNICEF). Aurélien Mellin was responsible for preparing Annex 2 and the relateddata processing, with inputs from Stefania Di Giuseppe (FAO). Areej Jafari provided valuable support andcoordination during the final production stage of this report.Translation ser vices were coordinated by the Meeting Programming and Documentation Ser vice of FAO’sConference, Council and Protocol Affairs Division.The Publishing Group in FAO’s Office for Corporate Communication provided editorial support, designand layout for all six official lang uages. ix

BUJUMBURA, BURUNDIA woman receiving seedrations at a rural seed fair. FAO/Giulio Napolitano

Key messagesè After a prolonged decline, world hungerappears to be on the rise again. The estimatednumber of undernourished people increasedto 815 million in 2016, up from 777 millionin 2015.è Much of the recent increase in food insecuritycan be traced to the greater number of conflicts,often exacerbated by climate-related shocks.è Even in some peaceful settings, food securityhas deteriorated as economic slowdownschallenge access to food for the poor.è The worrying trend in undernourishment is notyet reflected in levels of chronic child malnutrition(stunting), which continue to fall – but at a slowerrate in several regions.è Despite the decline, in 2016 stunting stillaffected one out of four children under the ageof five years, or 155 million children. In someregions, stunting affects one-third of childrenunder five.PART 1FOOD SECURITYAND NUTRITIONAROUNDTHE WORLDIN 2017è Wasting continues to threaten the lives ofalmost 52 million children (8 percent).è Almost one-third (33 percent) of women ofreproductive age worldwide suffer from anaemia,which also puts the nutrition and health of manychildren at risk.è Child overweight and adult obesity are onthe rise, including in low- and middle-incomecountries.è Multiple forms of malnutrition are coexisting,with countries experiencing simultaneously highrates of child undernutrition and adult obesity.

PART 1FOOD SECURITYAND NUTRITION AROUNDTHE WORLD IN 2017AFTER A PROLONGEDDECLINE, WORLDHUNGER APPEARS TO BEON THE RISE AGAINnumber of violent conflicts around the world hasincreased significantly, hitting rural communitiesthe hardest. More conflict is thus driving greaterfood insecurity, fuelling hotbeds of violence andcreating new ones. The situation has alsodeteriorated in some peaceful settings, particularlythose affected by economic slowdowns. A numberof countries heavily dependent on commodityexports have suffered dramatically reduced exportand fiscal revenues in recent years, which hasaffected both food availability through reducedimport capacity and food access through reducedfiscal potential to protect poor households againstrising domestic food prices. nIn 2016, the number of undernourished people inthe world increased to an estimated 815 million,up from 777 million in 2015 but still down fromabout 900 million in the year 2000. Similarly,while the prevalence of undernourishment isprojected to have increased to an estimated11 percent in 2016, this is still well below thelevel of a decade ago. Nonetheless, the recentincrease is cause for great concern and poses asignificant challenge for internationalcommitments to end hunger by 2030.CHILD UNDERNUTRITIONCONTINUES TO DECLINE,BUT LEVELS OFOVERWEIGHT AREINCREASINGIt is not yet clear whether this recent uptick inhunger and food-insecurity levels signals thebeginning of an upward trend, or whether itreflects an acute transient situation. However,reductions in the levels and degree ofundernourishment have slowed significantly since2010. This sobering news comes in a year in whichfamine was declared in one country (South Sudan)and crisis-level food insecurity situations at risk ofturning into famines were identified in severalothers (including Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen).The worrisome trend in undernourishmentindicators is, however, not reflected in nutritionaloutcomes. Evidence on various forms ofmalnutrition (outlined further below) points tocontinued decreases in the prevalence of childstunting, as reflected in global and regionalaverages. However, stunting still affects almostone in four children under the age of five years,increasing their risk of impaired cognitive ability,weakened performance at school and work, anddying from infections. At the same time,overweight among children under five is becomingmore of a problem in most regions, and adultobesity continues to rise in all regions. Multipleforms of malnutrition therefore coexist, withcountries experiencing simultaneously high ratesof child undernutrition and adult obesity.The food security situation has visibly worsened inparts of sub-Saharan Africa and South-Easternand Western Asia, as detailed in Part 1 of thisreport. Deteriorations have been observed mostnotably in situations of conflict, oftencompounded by droughts or floods (linked in partto the El Niño phenomenon). Part 2 of this reportanalyses in depth how conflict affects foodsecurity and how food insecurity itself can becomea trigger for conflict. Over the past ten years, the 2

THE STATE OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN THE WORLD 2017It may be difficult to make sense of a situationin which food securit y in terms of the estimatedadequacy of dietar y energ y intake isdeteriorating globally, though childundernutrition (stunting) is falling and adultobesit y is rising. However, food securit y is butone determinant of nutritional outcomes,especially for children. Other factors include:women’s educational level; resources allocatedto national policies and programmes formaternal, infant and young child nutrition;access to clean water, basic sanitation andqualit y health ser vices; lifest yle; foodenvironment; and culture. More context-specificassessments are needed to identif y the linksbetween household food securit y and nutritionand the causes underlying the apparentdivergence in the most recent food securit y andnutritional trends. However, overall, theserecent estimates are a warning signal thatachieving the goal of a world without hungerand malnutrition by 2030 will be challenging.Accomplishing it will require sustainedcommitment and efforts to promote adequateavailabilit y of and access to nutritious food. naim set by the 2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment (2030 Agenda). The secondSustainable Development Goal (SDG 2) callson countries to “end hunger, achieve foodsecurit y and improved nutrition and promotesustainable agriculture” by 2030. Composed ofeight targets, SDG 2 unites hunger, foodsecurit y, nutrition and sustainable agricultureunder a single objective, compelling theinternational communit y to move towards anunderstanding of how they are interrelatedand promoting integrated policy approachesand actions. The start of the 2030 Agendacoincided with the launch of the UnitedNations Decade of Action on Nutrition(2016 –2025), adding impetus to joint efforts ateradicating hunger and preventing all forms ofmalnutrition worldwide.Part 1 of this report monitors progresstowards ensuring access to food for all (SDGTarget 2.1), and putting an end to all forms ofmalnutrition (SDG Target 2.2). For the firsttime, this year’s report provides two measuresof food insecurit y. FAO’s traditional indicatorof the extent of hunger, the prevalence ofundernourishment (PoU), is complementedby the prevalence of severe food insecurity,which is estimated based on data collectedfrom adult individuals worldwide using theFood Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES).The FIES is a new tool, based on directinter views, to measure people’s abilit y toaccess food. In addition, the report assessesthe trends for six nutrition indicators,including three SDG 2 indicators of childmalnutrition (stunting, wasting andoverweight). The assessment further aims togenerate a better understanding of theconnections between the first two SDG 2targets and the action needed to achieve them.Given its enhanced scope, the traditionalA NEW ERA: FOODSECURITY ANDNUTRITION IN THE2030 AGENDA FORSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENTThe State of Food Security and Nutrition in theWorld 2017 marks the start of a new era inmonitoring progress towards achieving aworld without hunger and malnutrition – an 3

PART 1 FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION AROUND THE WORLD IN 2017RECENT TRENDS INHUNGER AND FOODINSECURITYpartnership of FAO, IFAD and W FP inpreparing this report has been expanded tobring in the knowledge and expertise ofUNICEF and W HO as well.Part 2 of the report links progress towardsimproved food securit y and nutrition toother SDGs. Given recent global trends, thisyear’s focus is on the nexus between SDG 2and SDG 16 – that is, between conf lict, foodsecurit y and peace. This shows not only howconf lict affects food securit y and nutrition,but also how improved food securit y andmore-resilient rural livelihoods can preventconf lict and contribute to lasting peace. nTARGET 2.1“By 2030, end hunger and ensure accessby all people, in particular the poor andpeople in vulnerable situations, includinginfants, to safe, nutritious and sufficientfood all year round.”BOX 1REVISION OF PREVALENCE OF UNDERNOURISHMENT (PoU)ESTIMATES AND PROJECTIONS FOR 2016These updates and revisions allow for reliableannualized PoU estimates at the global andregional level, replacing the three-year averagesof previous publications.A lack of more recent FBS data requiredestimating the PoU for 2016 as follows: the meanand the coefficient of variation of habitual foodconsumption were projected based on two piecesof auxiliary information. First, mean dietaryconsumption levels were updated using commoditybalances available from FAO’s Trade andCommodities Division (XCBS database). Second,evidence provided by the Food InsecurityExperience Scale data collected in 2014, 2015and 2016 was used to estimate changes in thecoefficient of variation underlying the PoUestimates for 2016. These projections wereperformed for global, regional and subregionalaggregates only, as doing so at the country levelwould be subject to larger margins of error. Forthis reason, this report does not present single-yearestimates for the PoU at the country level – instead,Annex Table A1.1 (p. 76) presents three-yearaverages at the country level.FAO continually tries to improve the reliability of thePoU estimates, which are derived from official countrydata on food supply, food consumption, and energyneeds (taki

Nutrition 2016-2025 call on all countries and stakeholders to act together to end hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition by 2030. This year's edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World marks the beginning of a regular monitoring of progress towards achieving the food security and nutrition