Hunger has increased by 91.1% in the Arab world over the past 20 years
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Roshan Amiri
- . December 17, 2021
- . Update: December 18, 2021 1:08 pm
A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reveals that the hunger crisis has worsened by 91.1% in the Arab world over the past twenty years, and indicates that Somalia and Yemen are the two most affected countries.
The organization stated that between 2019 and 2020, 4.8 million people in the Arab world suffered from malnutrition “in all social classes and in countries affected or not affected by conflict”
The worst affected countries are Somalia, where 59.5% of the population suffers from hunger while its fragile government has been facing an armed rebellion since 2007, and Yemen, which has been witnessing a seven-year war and where 45.4 percent of the population has been suffering from starvation.
Yemen also set the record for the number of anemia cases suffered by 61.5% of women in 2020. The organization’s report added, ‘141 million people in the region suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity in 2020, an increase of 10 million from the previous year. Thus, hunger has increased by 91.1% in the Arab world over the past twenty years, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization. This has been accompanied by public health problems, with 20.5% of children under the age of five in the region being stunted and 10.7 percent of this age group being overweight.
On the other hand, the problem of obesity in adults remains a major public health problem in the region, especially in the rich Arab countries. In 2020, the adult obesity rate was 28.8 percent, more than double the global average of 13.1 percent. Obesity spreads at higher rates in richer countries, like the Gulf countries, led by Kuwait with 37.4%.
