The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World
The 2023 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report presents updates on the food security and nutrition situation around the world including the latest estimates of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet.
This year, the update to the global assessment of food security and nutrition reflects a particular moment in history. While the pandemic, the ensuing economic rebound, the war in Ukraine, and soaring prices of food, agricultural inputs and energy have all played out differently across regions with differing impacts, new estimates indicate hunger is no longer on the rise at the global level but is still far above pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels and far off track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2.
As past editions of this report have highlighted, the intensification of the major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition – conflict, climate extremes, economic slowdowns and downturns, and growing inequality – often occurring in combination, is challenging our efforts to achieve the SDGs. There is no question these threats will continue, requiring that we remain steadfast to build resilience against them. However, there are still important megatrends that must be fully understood when devising policies to meet the SDG 2 targets.
One such megatrend, and the focus of this year’s report, is urbanization. As urbanization increases, rural and urban areas are becoming more intertwined, and the spatial distinction between them is becoming more fluid. The changing pattern of population agglomerations across this rural–urban continuum is driving changes throughout agrifood systems, creating both challenges and opportunities to ensure everyone has access to affordable healthy diets.
After presenting the latest updates of the food security and nutrition situation around the world, the report then examines the drivers, patterns and dynamics of urbanization through a rural–urban continuum lens and presents new analysis on how urbanization is changing food supply and demand across the rural–urban continuum. Complementing this, further analyses for selected countries explore differences in the cost and affordability of a healthy diet, and in food insecurity and different forms of malnutrition across the rural–urban continuum.
Building on these insights, the report identifies policies, investments and new technologies to address the challenges, and capitalize on the opportunities, that urbanization brings for ensuring access to affordable healthy diets for everyone, across the rural–urban continuum.