WASHINGTON– As a convergence of global crises sends food prices skyrocketing, new analysis from the ONE Campaign highlights the 10 toughest places around the world to feed a family.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN’s food prices index has reached its highest level ever, up 30 percent. On top of conflict, aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of climate change, debt and economic challenges make it harder for governments in low-income countries to respond to the crisis and take measures to protect their populations from hunger.

As ONE lays out in the Food Security Data Dive, the impacts of the food crises are already being felt around the world:

• One in ten people currently do not have enough to eat.
• In 2021, there were 193 million people in urgent need of food assistance. If this population were a country, it would be the 8th largest in the world.
• Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, an additional 55.2 million people are experiencing hunger.
• Gender inequalities are widening. Before the pandemic, women were 6% more likely than men to experience hunger. During the height of the pandemic, it was 10%.
• Credible estimates put the global cost of ending hunger between $39 billion and $50 billion a year, less than half the $110 billion spent on pet food last year.

Edwin Ikhuoria, Executive Director for Africa, ONE said: “These countries are experiencing acute hardship as the cost of living crisis, driven by soaring food and fuel prices, puts huge pressure on people already struggling to get by. And they are just the tip of the iceberg – food insecurity is now a reality for millions of people all over the world.  

“Unless leaders gathering in Germany this weekend get their act together to take real action on tackling these intersecting challenges, we are going to see continued devastation and loss of life.”