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Publication | 2022

Global Report on Food Crises 2022 Mid-Year Update

By mid-2022, the population facing the three highest phases of acute food insecurity was greater than at any point in the six-year history of the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC).

According to the GRFC 2022 Mid-Year Update, the number of people in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent – that is the number of people requiring urgent humanitarian assistance – is forecast to reach up to 205.1 million in 45 of the 53 countries/ territories included in the GRFC 2022, published in May 2022.

This number includes 14 new or updated 2022 peak estimates that were released since the publication of the annual report. For the majority of these estimates, the number of people facing Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent has been revised upwards since 2021.

For these 45 countries/territories, the data included in this GRFC 2022 Mid-Year Update represents an increase of up to 29.5 million people between 2021 and 2022 despite many populations in food crisis receiving humanitarian and development assistance, suggesting that needs continue to surpass current support and capacities.

This increase must be interpreted with care, given that it can be attributed to both a worsening acute food insecurity situation and an expansion in the population analysed (12 percent) between 2021 and 2022.

However, even when considering the share of the analysed population in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent, the proportion of the population in these phases has increased in 2022 compared to 2021.

The report analyses two key topics of concern in mid-2022:

Global and domestic food prices: Before the onset of war in Ukraine in February 2022, global food commodity prices were at a ten-year high due to the economic effects of COVID-19. The impact of the war further increased global food prices, and although international reference prices for food commodities started decreasing in the second quarter of 2022, prices were still 7.9 percent higher year-on-year in August 2022.

Drought in the Horn of Africa: In 2022, the number of acutely food-insecure people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia was expected to reach 31.8 million due to a confluence of conflict/insecurity, weather extremes and macroeconomic shocks. Within this, 18.8–21.3 million people were estimated to face Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) or equivalent primarily due to the severe, multi-seasonal drought in these three countries. On 5 September 2022, the IPC FRC projected Famine (IPC Phase 5) in south-central Somalia.

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