World Food Day 2022: What Can You Do As Global Hunger Rates Rise?

October 16, World Food Day, calls attention to a fundamental issue that impacts everyone; the need to eat.

The Food and Agricultural Organization established World Food Day in 1979 to raise awareness of world hunger and stop it for good. We've made strides since that time, but the world has recently taken a turn for the worse.

The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, current world conflicts, and inflation are among the factors that are making world hunger worse. Just in the last year, over 828 million new people were left hungry, and the number is only rising.

The problem isn’t that we don’t have enough food to feed everyone — because we do.

Inequality and poverty lie at the core of our global hunger problem.

The theme of this year's World Food Day is “Leave NO ONE behind,” but how can we do that?

World Hunger Statistics: Just How Many People Are Food Insecure?

We all know people are hungry. If we know where our next meal is coming from, though, we might not understand how big the problem really is. Shocking statistics are often the best way to convey important messages, so here goes:

• While it’s true that some progress was made toward reducing world hunger, much of it has been undone in recent years. In 2020 alone, 350 million more people went hungry than in the previous year; 9.3 percent of people were affected by hunger.
• The trend continued in 2021, with the number rising to 9.8 percent.
• Around 828 million people regularly went hungry last year alone.
• A shocking 5.1 million US homes faced food insecurity in 2021. Hunger isn't reserved for low-income countries; the richest nations in the world count hungry people, too.
• Women are more likely to be food insecure (yes, that's a nice term for "hungry") than men — in percentages, this boils down to 31.9 percent of women vs 27.6 percent of men.
• According to the FAO, people living in Asia and Africa were most likely to go hungry in 2020. There were 418 million malnourished people in Asia, and 282 million in Africa, in that year.
• Food insecurity was highest in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2017.
• A total of 45 million children under five struggled with wasting in 2021, which is the worst and most life-threatening form of malnutrition.
• As well as this, 149 children younger than five suffered from stunted development and growth because they weren’t getting enough nutrients.

The countries in which most people are vulnerable to hunger and its devastating effects include:

• Afghanistan
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Haiti
• Iraq
• Burma
• The central African Republic

Low-income countries have the highest risk of hunger and food insecurity as they already struggle with higher poverty rates.

What Causes Hunger and Food Insecurity?

It’s clear that world hunger is getting worse, but why? What's behind this sharp spike in food insecurity?

Some may point to the COVID pandemic in 2020 as an important source, as we saw a dramatic increase in world hunger as global supply chains were interrupted. The pandemic definitely had something to do with rising hunger rates, but it's not the root cause.

Even before 2020, more people were already going hungry. In fact, the number of hungry people had steadily been declining since 2005, only to increase again after 2014.

To name a few things that can increase world hunger, climate change and climate extremes, conflict, and economic slowdowns definitely contribute to a shocking rise in world hunger.

The underlying problem that causes hunger is poverty and inequality. The Earth remains resource-rich, even despite climate change. We grow more than enough food to feed everyone. The problem is that the food we grow isn't distributed equally. Even before current world conflicts and the pandemic, millions of people were left hungry because of income inequality.

World food day is all about working together to stop world hunger, but the numbers are only set to rise. As long as we still have poverty, inequality, and rampant capitalism, the truth is that people will be left behind. A lot of people.

As climate change and wars change the global landscape, we'll have to find new solutions to an age-old problem.

World Food Day: What Can You Do?

By this point, we might have scared you a bit with all the statistics, and you may be wondering what you can do to help this world food day. World food day is all about raising awareness, after all, and once that goal is achieved, action is the next step.

The bad news? We'll have to assume that world leaders and Elon Musk aren't reading this humble article. Ordinary people can't do much to change policies or invest enough money to make a long-term difference.

If you're not hungry yourself, however, you can do some things to help on a smaller scale. A small difference on a global level can be a big difference to one person!

One way to help hungry people is by donating food to a local food bank. A lot of people rely on food from the food bank, and non-perishable items like peanut butter, canned tuna, and dry beans are some of the best foods you can donate.

You can also support small family farms as they make up most of the world’s farms and often use sustainable agricultural techniques.

Another way to help is raising money at a food drive, as there are usually at least a few around on world food day. Don’t you have any food drives in your local area? Host one yourself!

At the very least, you could give one homeless person some food and money to eat for the day. You might not be stopping world hunger if you take this step, but you can at least help someone who is struggling.

As food is getting more expensive, you might also consider starting your own vegetable farm. This is sustainable and cheaper than buying from grocery shops. You likely won't be able to grow all of your own food, but even a little can make a difference.

World hunger isn’t going away anytime soon and is only set to get worse. So, if you’re lucky enough to have food on your table every day, don’t take it for granted, and savor every bite. Not everyone is as lucky as you.