2022 The State of the Humanitarian System | Briefing: Hunger

This briefing provides an overview of key facts and figures from 2022 edition of The State of the Humanitarian System (SOHS) on hunger.

By any definition - caseload, breadth of countries affected, funding - food crises have resurged to dominate humanitarian need and caseload over the past decade. 161 million people faced a food crisis, emergency or catastrophe in 2021, an increase of 33% since 2017, and the amount of funding requested to address hunger rose by 45% between 2018 and 2021. Food insecurity is getting worse, largely because of climate change and armed conflict; within the SOHS period armed groups restricted access to food in Myanmar, Syria, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Yemen. For the second consecutive SOHS survey of crisis affected people, food was the most commonly cited priority need (cited by 38%). While it occurred outside the study period of the State of the Humanitarian System Report (which covers up to December 2021), the Russia–Ukraine conflict threatens to have severe impacts on food security in multiple countries; 36 countries facing food crises rely on Ukraine and Russia for 10% or more of their wheat imports.