The World Food Programme (WFP) Executive director David Beasley attends a news conference on the food security in Yemen at the United Nations in Genev

World hunger rising as U.N. agencies warn of "looming catastrophe"

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2022-07-06 17:30:09

The World Food Programme (WFP) Executive director David Beasley attends a news conference on the food security in Yemen at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, December 4, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - World hunger levels rose again last year after soaring in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Ukraine war and climate change threatening starvation and mass migration on an "unprecedented scale" this year, according to U.N. agencies.

Up to 828 million people, or nearly 10% of the world's population, were affected by hunger last year, 46 million more than in 2020 and 150 million more than in 2019, agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Programme and World Health Organisation said in the 2022 edition of the U.N. food security and nutrition report.

"There is a real danger these numbers will climb even higher in the months ahead," said WFP executive director David Beasley, adding price spikes in food, fuel and fertilisers stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war threaten to push countries into famine.