Fighting hunger: Misereor

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After successes in the fight against hunger, hunger has been on the rise again worldwide since 2015. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), up to 757 million people did not have enough to eat in 2023. This is despite the fact that enough food is being produced. However, a third of the global harvest is lost due to wastage or poor logistics. A third of global grain production is used as animal feed. While more grain, fat and sugar is produced worldwide than is necessary for a healthy diet, the production of fruit and vegetables is nowhere near enough. Global hunger is primarily a distribution problem.

Hunger and malnutrition are primarily the result of poverty and inequality. These factors are exacerbated by conflicts and the climate catastrophe. The World Food Poverty Gap" study shows how much money people around the world lack to afford the minimum level of healthy nutrition and how great the injustice is. According to the study, 3.1 billion people lack the money for a balanced diet, totalling 2.59 trillion US dollars. With a global economic output of 139 trillion US dollars, this gap corresponds to just 1.86 per cent of global income, but separates two out of five people from a healthy diet.

The global poverty gap at a glance.

Great inequality: The poverty gap corresponds to just 1.86 per cent of global economic output, but separates two out of five people worldwide from a healthy diet.

India, Brazil, Pakistan, Indonesia and South Africa together account for 47 per cent of the global poverty gap. There are three main reasons for this: the country is very populous, a large proportion of the population cannot afford a healthy diet, or the amount of money those affected lack is particularly high.

The "global food poverty gap" will amount to 2.59 trillion US dollars in 2022. Two out of five people worldwide are affected by hunger or malnutrition. This is despite the fact that the people affected lack an average of just USD 2.29 per day for a balanced diet.

In a country comparison, India, Brazil, Pakistan, Indonesia and South Africa have the largest poverty gaps in the 2022 calculation period. Together, these five countries account for 47 per cent of the global poverty gap.

This is what a balanced diet looks like. Fruit and vegetables are particularly important, but hardly affordable for many people on low incomes.

On average, people affected by hunger and malnutrition lack 2.29 US dollars per day. That may not sound like much, but it has fatal consequences: Developmental delays, chronic illnesses, poorer educational opportunities.

A year-on-year comparison also shows just how great the inequality is: while average per capita incomes had already risen again in 2021 and exceeded the pre-corona level, the global poverty gap in 2022 remains at the level of the crisis year 2020. "After people living in poverty were particularly hard hit by the crises of recent years, they are now being denied a fair share of the renewed growth in prosperity," says Lutz Depenbusch, nutrition expert at Misereor.

In Misereor's view, in addition to many very specific and, in some cases, individual, local measures, two fundamental solutions are needed that should be anchored in German development cooperation and German foreign and economic policy:

Promoting and strengthening local food systems: Food security should not depend on imports from a few countries and companies. Local production and marketing should therefore be strengthened, the power of large companies reduced and agroecology made a funding priority.
Global tax agreement and orderly debt relief procedures: For poor and highly indebted countries, financial room for manoeuvre must be created to effectively combat hunger. In countries such as Mozambique, where the poverty gap corresponds to 111 per cent of the country's economic output, it is otherwise hardly possible to finance appropriate measures.

"The income that people around the world lack corresponds to less than two per cent of economic output. There is enough for everyone. Now it has to get to where it is most urgently needed," says Depenbusch.

To get closer to a world without hunger, we need a holistic approach, a clear political framework and the political will to implement it. We are committed to this together with our partner organisations in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Misereor is currently supporting almost 900 projects that contribute to improving food security worldwide. Strengthening smallholder agriculture, which produces 70 per cent of all food worldwide, and local food systems is proving particularly effective.

Dr. Lutz Depenbusch

Policy Officer for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture

Telephone: +49 241 442903
E-mail: lutz.depenbusch@misereor.de

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No access! Why our global food system penalises people living in poverty. And how we can create good…

No access! Why our global food system penalises people living in poverty. And how we can create good markets for good nutrition.

Food poverty is dramatically high despite a growing global economy. 2 out of 5 people cannot afford a healthy diet.

Hunger and malnutrition are primarily the result of poverty and inequality. The "Global Food Poverty Gap" shows how much money people around the world lack to afford the minimum level of a balanced diet and how great the injustice is. After all, healthy nutrition is not a luxury, but a human right. Together with its partner organisations, Misereor is committed to fighting hunger in the long term. This booklet presents examples of projects from Brazil, India and Uganda that strengthen smallholder families and improve access to food markets - for both producers and consumers.

Publisher: Misereor
Responsible for the product: Nina Brodbeck, Corinna Würzberger, Lutz Depenbusch
Number of pages: 24
Year of publication: September 2024

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No access! Why our global food system penalises people living in poverty. And how we can create good markets for good nutrition.

Food poverty is dramatically high despite a growing global economy. 2 out of 5 people cannot afford a healthy diet.

Publisher: Misereor
Responsible for the product: Nina Brodbeck, Corinna Würzberger, Lutz Depenbusch
Number of pages: 24
Year of publication: September 2024

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Dangerous pesticides from Bayer and BASF - a global business with double standards

The German pesticide manufacturers Bayer and BASF sell a large number of pesticide active…

The German pesticide manufacturers Bayer and BASF sell a large number of pesticide active ingredients in South Africa and Brazil that are not authorised in the EU because they are harmful to humans and nature. From a human rights perspective, this is a questionable business with so-called double standards. The brochure shows cases of indigenous communities in Brazil and farm workers in South Africa whose health is jeopardised by the use of pesticides.

Publisher: Misereor, INKOTA, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Southern Africa, Campanha Permanente contra os Agrotóxicos e pela Vida, Khanyisa
Year of publication: April 2020
Pages: 24
Can be ordered free of charge

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Publisher: Misereor, INKOTA, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Southern Africa, Campanha Permanente contra os Agrotóxicos e pela Vida, Khanyisa
Year of publication: April 2020
Pages: 24
Can be ordered free of charge

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International climate policy as a driver of the agricultural turnaround? Risks and opportunities in a dynamic policy field

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At COP 28, the international community emphasised that food security and the end of hunger must be given priority in climate policy. This harbours opportunities for climate-friendly, fairer development, but also some risks that require close civil society support from South and North. A specialist article by Anika Schroeder, Climate Policy Officer at Misereor.

Publisher: Agrar Koordination - Forum for International Agricultural Policy e. V.
Year of publication: 2023
Pages: 4

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Publisher: Agrar Koordination - Forum for International Agricultural Policy e. V.
Year of publication: 2023
Pages: 4

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