Politics
Interactive Map: Tracking World Hunger and Food Insecurity
Interactive Map: Tracking World Hunger and Food Insecurity
Hunger is still one the biggest—and most solvable—problems in the world.
Every day, more than 700 million people (8.8% of the world’s population) go to bed on an empty stomach, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
The WFP’s HungerMap LIVE displayed here tracks core indicators of acute hunger like household food consumption, livelihoods, child nutritional status, mortality, and access to clean water in order to rank countries.
But whereas acute hunger measures short-term inability to meet food consumption requirements, often related to crises, many people in the world also suffer from chronic hunger. This is the persistent inability to meet food consumption requirements, usually lasting for at least six months.
After sitting closer to 600 million from 2014 to 2019, the number of people in the world affected by hunger increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, 155 million people (2% of the world’s population) experienced acute hunger, requiring urgent assistance.
The Fight to Feed the World
The problem of world hunger isn’t new and attempts to solve it have made headlines for decades.
On July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially opened Live Aid, a worldwide rock concert organized to raise money for the relief of famine-stricken Africans.
The event was followed by similar concerts at other arenas around the world, globally linked by satellite to more than a billion viewers in 110 nations, raising more than $125 million ($309 million in today’s dollars) in famine relief for Africa.
But 35+ years later, the continent still struggles. According to the UN, from 12 countries with the highest prevalence of insufficient food consumption in the world, nine are in Africa.
Country | % Population Affected by Hunger | Population (millions) | Region |
---|---|---|---|
Afghanistan 🇦🇫 | 93% | 40.4 | Asia |
Somalia 🇸🇴 | 68% | 12.3 | Africa |
Burkina Faso 🇧🇫 | 61% | 19.8 | Africa |
South Sudan 🇸🇸 | 60% | 11.0 | Africa |
Mali 🇲🇱 | 60% | 19.1 | Africa |
Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 | 55% | 8.2 | Africa |
Syria 🇸🇾 | 55% | 18.0 | Middle East |
Niger 🇳🇪 | 55% | 22.4 | Africa |
Lesotho 🇱🇸 | 50% | 2.1 | Africa |
Guinea 🇬🇳 | 48% | 12.2 | Africa |
Benin 🇧🇯 | 47% | 11.5 | Africa |
Yemen 🇾🇪 | 44% | 30.0 | Middle East |
Approximately 30 million people in Africa face the effects of severe food insecurity, including malnutrition, starvation, and poverty.
Wasted Leftovers
Although many of the reasons for the food crisis around the globe involve conflicts or environmental challenges, one of the big contributors is food waste.
According to the United Nations, one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally. This amounts to about 1.3 billion tons of wasted food per year, worth approximately $1 trillion.
All the food produced but never eaten would be sufficient to feed two billion people. That’s more than twice the number of undernourished people across the globe. Consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa each year.
Solving World Hunger
While many people may not be “hungry” in the sense that they are suffering physical discomfort, they may still be food insecure, lacking regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development.
Estimates of how much money it would take to end world hunger range from $7 billion to $265 billion per year.
But to tackle the problem, investments must be utilized in the right places. Specialists say that governments and organizations need to provide food and humanitarian relief to the most at-risk regions, increase agricultural productivity, and invest in more efficient supply chains.
Politics
Mapped: Geopolitical Risk by Economy
Prior to invading Ukraine, Russia had one of the highest levels of geopolitical risk. How does geopolitical uncertainty vary around the world?


Geopolitical Risk by Economy
The Russia-Ukraine war highlighted how geopolitical risk can up-end supply chains and weaponize trade. More precisely, the war led to trade sanctions, a food crisis, and energy shortages.
This graphic from The Hinrich Foundation, the third in a five-part series on the sustainability of trade, explores how geopolitical risk differs by economy. It pulls data from the 2022 Sustainable Trade Index, which The Hinrich Foundation produced in collaboration with the IMD World Competitiveness Center.
Breaking Down Geopolitical Risk
Geopolitical risk has a strong correlation with GDP per capita, meaning that developing economies typically have less stability.
The following table shows how geopolitical risk breaks down for select economies that are covered in the 2022 Sustainable Trade Index. A lower number indicates less stability, while a higher number indicates more stability.
Economy | Geopolitical Stability |
---|---|
Pakistan | 5.2 |
Myanmar | 9.9 |
Bangladesh | 16.0 |
India | 17.0 |
Mexico | 17.9 |
Philippines | 18.9 |
Papua New Guinea | 20.3 |
Russia | 20.8 |
Thailand | 24.5 |
Indonesia | 28.3 |
Ecuador | 34.4 |
China | 37.7 |
Peru | 38.7 |
Cambodia | 41.0 |
Vietnam | 44.8 |
Sri Lanka | 45.3 |
U.S. | 46.2 |
Chile | 49.1 |
Hong Kong | 50.0 |
Malaysia | 50.9 |
UK | 61.3 |
South Korea | 62.7 |
Laos | 69.3 |
Taiwan | 72.2 |
Australia | 73.1 |
Japan | 87.3 |
Canada | 90.1 |
Brunei | 90.6 |
Singapore | 97.2 |
New Zealand | 97.6 |
Source: World Bank, based on the latest available data from 2020. Values measure perceptions of political instability and violence, which are a proxy and precursor to geopolitical risk.
New Zealand has the highest level of stability, likely supported by the fact that it is a small nation with no direct neighbors. The country has taken steps to repair relationships with Indigenous peoples, through land and monetary settlements, though challenges remain.
The U.S. has moderate stability. It has been impacted by increasing political polarization that has led to people having lower trust in institutions and more negative views of people from the opposing party. As the world’s largest economy, the U.S. also faces geopolitical risk such as escalating tariffs in the U.S.-China trade war.
Want more insights into trade sustainability?
Download the 2022 Sustainable Trade Index for free.
Russia has one of the lowest levels of stability. The country’s invasion of Ukraine has led to war along with economic roadblocks that restrict normal trade activity. For instance, sanctions against Russia and blocked Ukrainian ports led to a food shortage. The two countries supply a third of the world’s wheat and 75% of the sunflower oil supply.
The Impact of Geopolitical Uncertainty on Trade
Geopolitical risk can lead to civil unrest and war. It also has economic consequences including trade disruptions. As a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, the World Bank estimates that “world trade will drop by 1%, lowering global GDP by 0.7% and GDP of low-income economies by 1%.” A separate study found that Pakistan’s history of political instability has negatively affected trade in the country.
Of course, geopolitical risk is just one component of an economy’s trade sustainability. The Sustainable Trade Index uses a number of other metrics to measure economies’ ability to trade in a way that balances economic growth, societal development, and environmental protection. To learn more, visit the STI landing page where you can download the report for free.
The fourth piece in this series will explore air pollution by economy, and how it is influenced by economic activity such as trade.

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