Key messages

• Africa is not on track to meet the food security and nutrition targets of Sustainable Development Goal 2. After a long period of improvement between 2000 and 2013, hunger has worsened substantially and most of this deterioration occurred between 2019 and 2020.

• In 2020, 281.6 million Africans were undernourished, an increase of 89.1 million over 2014.

• There is significant variation in the levels and trends of hunger across the subregions. About 44.4 percent of undernourished people on the continent live in Eastern Africa, 26.7 percent in Western Africa, 20.3 percent in Central Africa, 6.2 percent for Northern Africa, and 2.4 percent for Southern Africa.

• In addition to the 346.4 million Africans suffering from severe food insecurity, 452 million suffer from moderate food insecurity.

• Conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns are the key drivers of food insecurity in Africa.

• By disrupting economic and livelihood activities, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic economic downturn in Africa and contributed to the worsening food security situation.

• In the short term, countries need to provide humanitarian assistance and effective social protection measures to effectively improve food security and nutrition. Over the longer term, countries will need to invest in agriculture and related sectors, as well as in water, health, and in education services to reduce vulnerabilities and build capacities to withstand shocks from climate change and conflicts, as well as economic downturns and slowdowns.

• In Africa, the prevalence of stunting in children under five years of age has fallen gradually, but at 30.7 percent remains high, and the number of stunted children continues to rise. However, the prevalence of wasting in children in Africa remains just below the global average.

• The prevalence of overweight in children under five years of age in Africa is 5.3 percent, below the global average. However, in Northern and Southern Africa the prevalence is much higher at 13 and 12.1 percent, respectively. Despite progress over the 2000 to 2015 period, the 2015 to 2020 period has seen a rise in the prevalence of overweight in all subregions.

• About 122.7 million women of reproductive age are affected by anaemia. The prevalence has fallen over the last 10 years, but progress is much too slow to achieve the global nutrition targets.

• The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in Africa is 43.6 percent, very similar to the global average. Eastern Africa has achieved considerable progress with a prevalence of 60.7 percent in 2019. On the other hand, the prevalence is well below the global average in Southern and Western Africa.

• The prevalence of adult obesity is 12.8 percent in Africa, very similar to the global rate. However, it is lower in all subregions except for Northern and Southern Africa where the rate is about twice the global average. The trend is upward in all regions and growth is fastest in Northern and Southern Africa.