The number of people facing hunger and food insecurity has been on the rise since 2015, with the pandemic, conflict climate change and growing inequalities exacerbating the situation. In 2015, 589 million people were experiencing hunger, and by 2021, that number had risen to 768 million. Projections show that by 2030, approximately 670 million people will still be facing hunger – 8% of the world’s population, the same as in 2015. Despite global efforts, too many children continue suffering from malnutrition and the current annual rate of reduction in stunting must increase by 2.2 times to meet the global target. To achieve zero hunger by 2030, immediate and intensified efforts are required to transform food systems, ensure food security and invest in sustainable agricultural practices.

Target 2.1: The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an already deteriorating food security situation, with about 150 million more people facing hunger in 2021 than in 2019. In addition, nearly 1 in 3 (2.3 billion people) were moderately or severely food insecure in 2021. This represents an increase of almost 350 million people since the beginning of the pandemic. The most worrisome increases were seen in sub-Saharan Africa. The ongoing crisis in Ukraine is yet another threat to food security.

Target 2.2: Globally in 2022, an estimated 22.3% of children under age 5 (148 million) were affected by stunting, down from 24.6% in 2015. Overweight affected 37.0 million children under age 5 (or 5.6%) and wasting affected 45 million (or 6.8%) in 2022. The global prevalence of overweight children has stagnated, and if current trends continue, the 2030 target will be missed by 17.5 million children. Further, the prevalence of anaemia in women of reproductive age continues to be alarming, stagnant at around 30% since 2000. And low and lower-middle income economies bear the greatest burden of stunting, wasting, low birth weight and anaemia.

Target 2.5: Although 71% of local livestock breeds with a known status are at risk of extinction, progress has been made in ex-situ cryopreservation: Between 1995 and 2022, the number of local and transboundary breeds for which sufficient material is available increased from 57 to 287 (out of 7688 local breeds) and from 31 to 175 (out of 1115 transboundary breeds), respectively. At the end of 2021, an estimated 5.8 million accessions of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture were conserved under medium- or long-term conditions in 846 gene banks in 115 countries and 17 regional and international research centres, representing a 1.1% year-on-year increase in 2021.

Target 2.a: Investment in agriculture is falling. Government expenditure on agriculture relative to the agriculture sector’s contribution to GDP has declined from 0.50 in 2015 to 0.45 in 2021 in all regions except Northern America and Europe, which was driven mostly by the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Target 2.b: In December 2015, WTO Members adopted the Ministerial Decision on Export Competition, thus formally agreeing to eliminate all forms of agricultural export subsidies entitlements. Total notified annual export subsidy outlays fell from their peak of 218 million in 2015 to almost zero in 2021.

Target 2.c: In 2021, the share of countries facing moderately to abnormally high food prices was 21.5%, a significant decline from the record-high of 48% in 2020, when the easing of COVID-19 related restrictive measures prompted strong demand. However, this is still above the 2015-2019 average (15.2%), reflecting continued increases in food prices, mainly supported by elevated production and transport costs on account of costlier fertilizers and energy. In sub-Saharan Africa and among LDCs, the proportion of countries experiencing high food prices increased for the second consecutive year in 2021.