Latest issue: SOFI 2020

Transforming Food Systems for Affordable Healthy Diets

Digital report | Printable version [pdf] | In brief | E-Book MOBI/EPUB

Updates for many countries have made it possible to estimate hunger in the world with greater accuracy this year. In particular, newly accessible data enabled the revision of the entire series of undernourishment estimates for China back to 2000, resulting in a substantial downward shift of the series of the number of undernourished in the world. Nevertheless, the revision confirms the trend reported in past editions: the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report also shows that the burden of malnutrition in all its forms continues to be a challenge. There has been some progress for child stunting, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding, but at a pace that is still too slow. Childhood overweight is not improving and adult obesity is on the rise in all regions.

The report complements the usual assessment of food security and nutrition with projections of what the world may look like in 2030, if trends of the last decade continue. Projections show that the world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 and, despite some progress, most indicators are also not on track to meet global nutrition targets. The food security and nutritional status of the most vulnerable population groups is likely to deteriorate further due to the health and socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SOFI 2020 digital resources

Interactive map

See global progress towards the eradication of hunger and malnutrition.

Digital report

Explore the easy-to-navigate digital version of the SOFI 2020 report.

Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU) projection tool

This tool allows you to reproduce and plot the country PoU series estimated by FAO up to 2030 and simulate alternative scenarios for projections until 2030.

By selecting a country from the dropdown list, the PoU and the Number of people Undernourished (NoU) series will automatically appear in the main window. The two series show the estimated prevalence and number of people undernourished for the period 2000-02 – 2017-19 and reproduce the FAO projection estimates up to 2028-30.

You can simulate alternative projection scenarios by defining the growth rate of two parameters used to calculate the PoU: the total Dietary Energy Supply (DES) in the country; and the Coefficient of Variation of the distribution of food consumption that reflects inequality in access to food (CV|y). For all years, population data (size and structure by sex and age) are based on the latest available medium variant of the World Population Prospects.

All along, population data (size and structure by sex and age) are based on the latest available medium variant of the World Population Prospects. The new simulated scenario can then be added to the plot for comparison, allowing the user to better understand under which condition the 2030 target can be met.

Nutrition Targets Tracking Tool

WHO, in collaboration with UNICEF and the EC, developed the Tracking Tool to help countries set their national targets and monitor progress. Users can explore scenarios taking into account different rates of progress for the six targets and the time left to 2025.

Access the tracking tool

About the series

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World is an annual flagship report jointly prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO to inform on progress towards ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and to provide in depth analysis on key challenges for achieving this goal in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The report targets a wide audience, including policy-makers, international organizations, academic institutions and the general public.