2023

GLOBAL REPORT ON FOOD CRISES

JOINT ANALYSIS FOR BETTER DECISIONS

What is the Global Report on Food Crises?

The GRFC 2023 is the result of a collaborative effort among 16 partners to achieve a joint consensus-based assessment of acute food insecurity in countries with food crises. The report aims to inform humanitarian and development action by providing the global and national food security community with independent and consensus-based evidence and analysis.

Published by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN) in support of the Global Network against Food Crises (GNAFC), the GRFC is the reference document on global, regional and country-level acute food insecurity in 2022. It provides analysis of the key drivers of acute food insecurity in food-crisis contexts and presents an overview of food-crisis trends since 2016.

Methodology

The main sources of acute food insecurity are the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and the Cadre Harmonisé (CH).
For countries/territories for which an IPC/CH analysis is not available, estimates are derived from IPC-compatible sources like FEWS NET or from WFP Consolidated Approach for Reporting on indicators (CARI) and Humanitarian Needs Overviews (HNO) and Humanitarian Response Plans (HRP), published by OCHA.

Phase 1
MINIMAL

Households are able to meet essential food and non-food needs without engaging in atypical and unsustainable strategies to access food and income

Phase 2
STRESSED

Households have minimally adequate food consumption but are unable to afford some essential non-food expenditures without engaging in stress-coping strategies

Phase 3
CRISIS

Households have food consumption gaps with high or above usual acute malnutrition OR accelerated depletion of livelihoods assets OR resort to crisis coping strategies

Phase 4
EMERGENCY

Households have large food consumption gaps resulting in very high acute malnutrition and excess mortality OR face extreme loss of livelihood assets OR resort to emergency coping strategies

Phase 5
CATASTROPHE /
FAMINE

Households have an extreme lack of food and/or other basic needs. Starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident

Action for disaster risk reduction and livelihoods protection

Urgent action required

"Food crisis occurs when rates of acute food insecurity and malnutrition rise sharply at local or national levels, raising the need for emergency food assistance. A food crisis is usually set off by a shock or combination of shocks that affect one or more of the pillars of food security: food availability, food access, food utilization or food stability".”.

Key Findings

People who experienced high levels of acute food insecurity requiring urgent food, nutrition and livelihood assistance (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent).

Out of the 58 food crises countries included in the GRFC, 42 were identified as major food crises because they had more than 1 million people or 20 percent of the population in IPC Phase 3 or above or equivalent.

The ten countries/territories with the highest numbers of people in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent in 2022 and the share of analysed population in these phases

The food crises with the highest severity (at least 30% of the analysed population in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent)

Other food crises with a high localized severity (at least 35% of the analysed population in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent)

Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5)
People in seven countries faced Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) at some point during 2022. More than half of the people facing these conditions were in Somalia (57 percent), but these extreme circumstances also affected populations in South Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Haiti (for the first time in the history of the GRFC), Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

What does it mean to live in IPC/CH Phase 5?
Households have an extreme lack of food and/or other basic needs even after full employment of coping strategies. Starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident.

Number of people facing Catastrophe in (IPC/CH Phase 5) in 7 countries in 2022

Somalia (214 100 in Oct - Dec 2022)
South Sudan (87 000 in Oct - Dec 2022)
Yemen (31 000 in Jan - May 2022)
Afghanistan* (20 300 in Mar - May 2022)
Haiti (19 200 in Sep 2022 - Feb 2023)
Nigeria* (3 000 in Oct - Dec 2022)
Burkina Faso* (1800 in Oct - Dec 2022)

*This is not the same analysis as the one showing the acute food insecurity peak in 2022. Source: IPC TWGs, 2022.

Global overview of displacement

  • Displacement is both a consequence and a driver of food insecurity, as people forced to flee their homes lose access to their livelihoods while also facing major barriers to income, humanitarian aid, healthcare, and other essential services.
  • By mid-2022, the number of forcibly displaced people globally had reached 103 million, around 14 million more people than at the end of 2021.  
  • By the end of 2022, 53.2 million people were internally displaced in 25 countries/territories.
  • By the end of 2022, 19.7 million people were refugees and asylum seekers in 55 out of the 58 food-crisis countries/territories.

Global overview of acute malnutrition

  • Areas with high levels of acute food insecurity often tend to have high levels of child wasting.
  • In 30 food-crises countries/territories, over 35 million children under 5 years of age suffered from wasting.
  • About 65 percent of children with wasting lived in nine out of the ten food crises with the highest number of people in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent.
Change in number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity between 2021 and 2022
In 2021, 193 million people in 53 countries/territories were in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent. The year-on-year increase of 65 million people reflects worsening acute food insecurity in some countries/territories, persisting situations in others as well as increased analysis coverage.
Population facing high levels of acute food insecurity

2021

193

MILLION PEOPLE

2022

258

MILLION PEOPLE

Population analysed

2021

906 079 885

IN 53 COUNTRIES

2022

906,079,885

IN 58 COUNTRIES

Drivers of acute food insecurity

Conflict and insecurity, economic shocks and weather extremes are the main drivers of acute food insecurity. They are interrelated and mutually reinforcing and continue to erode livelihoods and destroy lives in a vicious cycle. Increasingly these drivers are acting at the global scale, with climate change and successive economic shocks – particularly linked to the socioeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine.

In 2022, economic shocks surpassed conflict as the main driver of acute food insecurity in terms of number of countries/territories affected, with conflict remaining the main driver for a higher number of people.


Number of people in ipc/ch phase 3 or above or equivalent by primary driver, 2018 - 2022

Note: Economic shocks include the indirect impact of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 and the effects of the war in Ukraine in 2022. Source: FSIN, GRFC 2019–2023.

Population in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent by key driver in 2022

CONFLICT AND INSECURITY

Conflict/insecurity was the most significant driver in 19 countries where 117 million people were in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent.

ECONOMIC SHOCKS

Economic shocks (including the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 and the repercussions of the war in Ukraine) became the main driver in 27 countries with 83.9 million people in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent   – up from 30.2 million people in 21 countries in 2021.

WEATHER EXTREMES

Weather extremes were the primary driver of acute food insecurity in 12 countries where 56.8 million people were in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent, more than double the number of people (23.5 million) in eight countries in 2021.

Global effects of the war in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine disrupted agricultural production and trade in the Black Sea region, contributing to high international food prices in the first half of 2022. While measuring the precise impact of the war on global food security is difficult, the conflict continues to affect food security indirectly, particularly in the large part of GRFC countries/territories, which are food import-dependent low-income countries whose fragile economic resilience had already been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

By the end of 2022, food prices had increased in all GRFC countries/territories, with food inflation being over 10 percent in 38 out of 58 countries/territories with food crises. Nearly all of the countries whose currencies lost value at an abnormally fast rate in 2022 were GRFC countries/ territories.

Percentage increase in the price of staple foods December 2021–December 2022 in GRFC qualifying countries/territories

< 0 percent
0 -10 percent
11 - 20 percent
21 - 50 percent
51 - 100 percent
> 100 percent
Data unavailable
Country not selected
for analysis

Regional profiles

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN
AFRICA

Thirteen food-crisis countries with data in 2022

Angola, Central African Republic, Congo (refugees), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe
About 47.4M people or 22% of the analysed population faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 13 countries in Central and Southern Africa.

DRIVERS OF ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY

CONFLICT / INSECURITY

In the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique, and for refugee populations in the Congo, conflict was the main driver of food insecurity, displacing populations, disrupting markets and services and damaging rural livelihoods and infrastructure.

WEATHER EXTREMES

were the main driver of acute food insecurity in Angola, Madagascar, Malawi, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia, while elsewhere, erratic rainfall and tropical storms and rainfall had significant effects on crop production and acute food insecurity.

ECONOMIC SHOCKS

In Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe, economic shocks, associated with soaring prices and a severe deterioration in household purchasing power, were the main drivers of acute food insecurity.

ACUTE MALNUTRITION

About 3.26M children under 5 years were estimated to be suffering from wasting in 2022, of whom 1.05M were severely wasted.

DISPLACEMENT

About 8.3M displaced people, of whom 7.2M were IDPs and 1.1M were refugees and asylum seekers.

EAST AFRICA

Eight food-crisis countries with data in 2022

Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda
In 2022, 56.85M people or 22% of the analysed population faced high levels of acute food insecurity in eight countries.

DRIVERS OF ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY

WEATHER EXTREMES

An unprecedented drought in the Horn of Africa (including parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia) and unfavourable weather conditions in parts of Burundi and Uganda, remained the main driver of acute food insecurity in the region.

ECONOMIC SHOCKS

Soaring food prices amid slow economic growth were a major factor constraining access to food.

CONFLICT / INSECURITY

Across the region, especially in Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and the Sudan, conflict/insecurity curbed food availability, disrupted markets and caused further internal and cross-border displacement.

ACUTE MALNUTRITION

About 12.23M children under 5 years were estimated to be suffering from wasting in 2022, of whom 2.98M were severely wasted.

DISPLACEMENT

About 16.3M displaced people, of whom 11.7M were IDPs and 4.54M were refugees and asylum seekers.

WEST AFRICA
AND THE SAHEL

Fifteen food-crisis countries/territories with data in 2022

Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia,  Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali,   Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria (21 states and FCT), Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo
In 2022, 41.45M people or 12% of the analysed population faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 15 countries/territories.

DRIVERS OF ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY

CONFLICT / INSECURITY

Conflict/insecurity was the main driver of acute food insecurity in six countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, the Niger and Nigeria (21 states and the FCT), due to the persistence of regional security crises in border areas, including the Lake Chad Basin and the Central Sahel.

ECONOMIC SHOCKS

Acute food insecurity in Cabo Verde, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo was driven by economic shocks, affecting household purchasing power as well as governments’ abilities to deliver food and livelihood assistance.

WEATHER EXTREMES

Erratic and below-average rains in 2021 resulted in 2022 staple production shortfalls, particularly in Chad, Mauritania and the Niger while flooding in some areas disrupted markets and livelihoods, and caused  localized crop losses.

ACUTE MALNUTRITION

About 12.82M children under 5 years were estimated to be suffering from wasting in 2022, of whom 3.48M were severely wasted.

DISPLACEMENT

About 9.34M displaced people, of whom 7.63M were IDPs and 1.71M were refugees and asylum seekers.

ASIA

Five food-crisis countries with data in 2022

Afghanistan, Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazaar), Myanmar, Pakistan (Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh) and Sri Lanka
In 2022, 51.3M people or 36% of the analysed population faced high levels of acute food insecurity in five countries.

DRIVERS OF ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY

ECONOMIC SHOCKS

Deepening economic crises in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka were aggravated by the war in Ukraine; economic shocks were also a major driver of acute food insecurity in Myanmar and Pakistan.

CONFLICT / INSECURITY

Conflict was the primary driver of acute food insecurity in Bangladesh and Myanmar, while pockets of armed clashes and violence persisted in Afghanistan where decades of conflict have destroyed livelihoods.

WEATHER EXTREMES

Heatwaves followed by abnormal monsoon rainfall – were the primary driver of acute food insecurity in  Pakistan, while catastrophic drought conditions were a significant driver in Afghanistan.

ACUTE MALNUTRITION

About 4.15M children under 5 years were estimated to be suffering from wasting in 2022, of whom 1.00M were severely wasted.

DISPLACEMENT

About 10.2M displaced people, of whom 7.5M were IDPs and 2.8M were refugees and asylum seekers.

LATIN AMERICA
AND CARIBBEAN

Eight food-crisis countries with data in 2022

Colombia (migrants and refugees), Dominican Republic, Ecuador (migrants and refugees), El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua
In 2022, 17.8M people or 27% of the analysed population faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2022 in eight countries.

DRIVERS OF ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY

ECONOMIC SHOCKS

Eroded household purchasing power and macroeconomic challenges, including the ripple effects of the war in Ukraine, were the main drivers of acute food insecurity in the region.

CONFLICT / INSECURITY

Conflict/insecurity was the main driver of acute food insecurity in Haiti, where increasing political instability, economic hardship and social tensions have led to heightened unrest and conflict, severely hindering economic activity.  
For the first time in the history of the IPC, Haiti had populations in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5),( 19 000 people) in part of the capital Port au Prince where gang violence severely thwarted supply chains and restricted people to their homes.

WEATHER EXTREMES

Weather extremes were not identified as the main driver of acute food insecurity in any country but tropical storms and precipitation abnormalities  had a negative impact on household food security, mostly in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

ACUTE MALNUTRITION

The lack of updated nutrition data continued to impede a comprehensive assessment of the situation in Latin America amid growing concerns about increasing cases of wasted children – mostly among Venezuelan migrants and refugees – albeit not at the levels seen in other food-crisis contexts.

DISPLACEMENT

About 3.16M Venezuelan migrants and refugees resided in the food-crisis countries of the region. Out of them, 2.5M were in Colombia and 565 000 in Ecuador. About 155 000 people were internally displaced in Haiti.

MIDDLE EAST
AND NORTH AFRICA

Eight food-crisis countries/territories with data in 2022

Algeria (Sahrawi refugees), Iraq (IDPs and returnees), Jordan (Syrian refugees), Lebanon (Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees), Libya, Palestine, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen
Over 34.1M people faced high levels of acute food insecurity in eight countries/territories in the Middle East and North Africa.

DRIVERS OF ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY

CONFLICT / INSECURITY

Conflict and insecurity remained the primary driver of acute food insecurity in Yemen and Palestine, and for forcibly displaced populations in Jordan, Libya and Algeria, while conflict became a secondary driver of acute food in the Syrian Arab Republic in 2022.

ECONOMIC SHOCKS

Economic shocks were the primary driver in the Syrian Arab Republic and Lebanon, where soaring food and fuel prices, amid falling incomes, rising unemployment and high levels of debt, severely constrained households’ ability to meet basic needs.

WEATHER EXTREMES

Weather extremes were not considered a primary driver of acute food insecurity in the region in 2022, but they were a contributor in all countries/territories.

ACUTE MALNUTRITION

About 2.6M children under 5 years were estimated to be suffering from wasting in 2022, of whom 0.6M were severely wasted.

DISPLACEMENT

About 19M displaced people, of whom 12.6M were IDPs and 6.4M were refugees and asylum seekers.

EUROPE

UKRAINE

8.9M people or 25% of the total population faced moderate or severe acute food insecurity in 2022.
Share of population facing moderate or severe acutefood insecurity

DRIVERS OF ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY

CONFLICT / INSECURITY

Conflict and insecurity has reduced cereal production by an estimated 30%.

ECONOMIC SHOCKS

The war has had a severe impact on Ukraine’s economy with disrupted livelihoods, unemployment and rising costs of food and heating are reducing households’ purchasing power.

ACUTE MALNUTRITION

No recent nutrition data are available for Ukraine, but the factors that underlie wasting have been exacerbated by the war. Drivers of undernutrition include food insecurity and lack of access to healthy diets, limited access to healthy and nutrition services, and poor household environment.

DISPLACEMENT

About 19.9M displaced people, of whom 6.2M were IDPs and 7.7M were refugees registered in Europe and 6.0M returnees.

Spotlights

Timely action saves lives and money

The magnitude of people facing IPC/CH Phase 3 or above is daunting, but it is that very scale that drives urgency. Earlier intervention can reduce food gaps and protect assets and livelihoods at a lower cost than late humanitarian response. Yet too often the international community waits for a Famine (IPC/CH Phase 5) classification before mobilizing additional funding. By this stage, lives and futures have already been lost, livelihoods have collapsed, and social networks disrupted with deleterious impacts on the lives of an unborn generation. Populations in IPC/CH Phase 3 are already unable to meet their minimum food needs and are compelled to protect food consumption by engaging in harmful coping strategies  It is at this stage that action is needed to ensure immediate wellbeing, to support households’ ability to sustain themselves, and to protect families from making choices that are likely to lead to worse outcomes.

Countries of concern

Despite having been identified by the international community as having populations of concern through UN coordinated appeals or response plans in 2022, and therefore likely to have populations facing high acute food insecurity, some countries have not been included in the GRFC 2023.  This is either because data were not available or they did not meet the requirements of the GRFC for inclusion.

Data not available
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Korea, Eritrea 
Evidence did not meet GRFC requirements 
Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt (Syrian refugees), Islamic Republic of Iran (Afghan refugees), Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Peru (refugees and migrants), Philippines, Rwanda (refugees), Tajikistan, Tonga, Türkiye (Syrian refugees)

Projections 2023

According to projections available for 38 of the 58 countries/territories as of March 2023, up to 153 million people or 18 percent of the analysed population will be in IPC/CH Phase 3 or above or equivalent in 2023. However, the acute food insecurity situation in these food-crisis countries is likely to be further affected by a number of shocks that occurred recently and were not factored into the current available estimates.

CONFLICT / INSECURITY

Conflict will continue to drive displacement and lead millions of people to face high levels of acute food insecurity in many countries including the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, and Ukraine as well as the Central Sahel and Lake Chad Basin areas. Even in areas where active fighting has abated – Afghanistan, Ethiopia, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen – the impacts of conflict will persist throughout 2023. In the Sudan, the onset of clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary forces in mid-April is extremely concerning and likely to trigger a deterioration in acute food insecurity, notably as it prompted a suspension of humanitarian assistance in the country. 

ECONOMIC SHOCKS

Economic shocks are likely to drive acute food insecurity across the globe, as countries’ economic resilience has been severely undermined by a slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Persisting high food prices coupled with unsustainable debt levels in a number of food-crisis countries amid high interest rates and currency depreciation, are expected to continue to erode households’ food access and constrain the fiscal capacity of governments to deliver assistance to populations. As of March 2023, food prices were at exceptionally high levels in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Myanmar, Namibia, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.

WEATHER EXTREMES

The impact of the February 2023 tropical cyclone Freddy in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique will sustain acute food insecurity conditions throughout 2023. In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, recovery from the three-year drought across the Horn of Africa, will be prolonged and a Risk of Famine in two districts of Somalia has again been raised. Forecast to return in June 2023, the El Niño phenomenon is likely to result in dry weather conditions in key cropping areas of Central America, Southern Africa and Far East Asia, while excessive rainfall and possible flooding is foreseen in Near East Asia and East Africa.

NATURAL DISASTERS

Even before the devastating February 2023 earthquakes, the acute food security outlook for the Syrian Arab Republic was precarious. Earthquake-affected areas were home to almost 3 million IDPs and the destruction and losses of physical capital (especially in agriculture) are estimated at USD 5.2 billion. Inflation is expected to increase substantially (WB, March 2023).

Global Report on Food Crisis 2023

DOWNLOAD