267.7 million people in Latin America were food insecure in 2021, an increase of 62.5 million from 2019, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal) announced this Tuesday with the presentation of the report “On the Towards Sustainable Nutrition and Food Security in Latin America and the Caribbean in Response to the World Food Crisis”, jointly with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP).
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According to the report, food insecurity affected 40.6% of the region’s population last year, double the global average of 29.3%. “Between 2019 and 2021, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity increased from 31.7% to 40.6%, that is, it recorded an increase of almost 9 percentage points, the highest compared to other regions of the world,” explained the organization document .
South America is the region where food insecurity “has increased the most within the region,” the company said.
Secondly, Regarding severe food insecurity, the prevalence in the Region was 14.2% in 2021, nearly double the 2014 figure, which was 7.5%. The largest increase was recorded between 2019 and 2020 as part of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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However, according to the company, rising food inflation and extreme poverty are some of the factors increasing food insecurity and hunger.
“Although malnutrition has increased in the Region since 2014, its prevalence increased by 1.9 percentage points between 2019 and 2021, reaching 8.6% of the population. The number of hungry people in the region increased by 13.2 million to 56.5 million people compared to 2019,” the text reads.
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