![]() Over 200 million fewer people are now estimated to be food-insecure than at the beginning of the war or even the end of 2021, when food prices were at 10-year highs due to rising energy prices, weather, and an increase in global demand.īut that bit of respite is happening amid a global food situation that’s still largely dismal. ![]() According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), prices fell in August in all measured categories: cereals, oil, dairy, meat, and sugar. Global food prices have dropped for five consecutive months and are now back to their levels from before the war, which had precipitated a spike. The world hunger situation is better than it was at the beginning of the war in Ukraine six months ago. We’ve seen a respite from spiraling prices - but food is still more expensive compared to a year ago The worsening picture for food security is just one of the most consequential impacts of the global rise in prices. (Hyperinflation is commonly defined as very high inflation, typically a monthly rate of around 50 percent.) But in the last year, many other low- and middle-income countries have also experienced the twinned inflation and food crises that have plagued these three countries. The three countries with the highest food inflation - Lebanon, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela - had already experienced hyperinflation in recent years. Food insecurity not only affects health but also forces people to leave their homes and increases risk of conflict. Where food is most unaffordable, malnutrition is widespread, meaning people are underweight and have vitamin deficiencies, and children aren’t growing as tall as they should. Inflation compounds a global food crisis that finds hundreds of millions of people suffering from malnourishment. Although food inflation rates aren’t as high as they were when the war in Ukraine started, any increase in the price of staples like wheat and oil puts the hundreds of millions of people in low-income countries who spend half their money on food at risk of hunger. High food prices have a ripple effect on everything from nutrition and migration to conflict and even gender relations. According to a report last month from the World Bank, food in many countries is now 10 to 30 percent more expensive than it was a year ago. The global inflation crisis has hit Americans’ wallets hard - but its consequences have been even graver for large swaths of the world.
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