UN reports global hunger increase due to pandemic

"As progress in fighting hunger stalls, the COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying the vulnerabilities and inadequacies of global food systems," UNICEF stated.

"While it is too early to assess the full impact of the lockdowns and other containment measures, at least another 83 million people, and possibly as many as 132 million, may go hungry in 2020."

Asia currently has the largest hunger crisis. The report suggests that as many as 381 million people on the continent of Asia were insufficiently nourished in 2019. This comprises more than half of the total number of hungry people in the world.

UNICEF stated that "a healthy diet costs far more than US$ 1.90/day, the international poverty threshold. A staggering 3 billion people or more cannot afford a healthy diet. In sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, this is the case for 57 percent of the population – though no region, including North America and Europe, is spared. Partly as a result, the race to end malnutrition appears compromised."

Though world hunger had been declining prior to 2014, it has shot up by almost 60 million since then.

The World Health Organization gave an explanation for how the pandemic has taken a toll, saying that "as progress in fighting hunger stalls, the COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying the vulnerabilities and inadequacies of global food systems – understood as all the activities and processes affecting the production, distribution and consumption of food."

"While it is too soon to assess the full impact of the lockdowns and other containment measures, the report estimates that at a minimum, another 83 million people, and possibly as many as 132 million, may go hungry in 2020 as a result of the economic recession triggered by COVID-19."

Though the report did suggest that the economic recovery expected to take place in 2021 could bring the amount of undernourished people down, it is not clear by how much.

Estimates put the total number of malnourished people in 2019 to be around 690 million.