After a prolonged decline, world hunger appears to be on the rise again. Conflict, drought and disasters linked to climate change are among the key factors causing this reversal in progress.

• The proportion of undernourished people worldwide increased from 10.6 per cent in 2015 to 11.0 per cent in 2016. This translates to 815 million people worldwide in 2016, up from 777 million in 2015.
• In 2017, 151 million children under age 5 suffered from stunting (low height for their age), 51 million suffered from wasting (low weight for height), and 38 million were overweight.
• Aid to agriculture in developing countries totalled $12.5 billion in 2016, falling to 6 per cent of all donors’ sector-allocable aid from nearly 20 per cent in the mid-1980s.
• Progress has been made in reducing market-distorting agricultural subsidies, which were more than halved in five years—from $491 million in 2010 to less than $200 million in 2015
• In 2016, 26 countries experienced high or moderately high levels of general food prices, which may have negatively affected food security.

Source: Report of the Secretary-General, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2018