Currently, 37 million more people worldwide are starving than they were in 2015. This is the result of Welthungerhilfe's current Global Hunger Index (WHI). The number of starving people rose from 785 million in 2015 to 822 million. The situation in conflict countries is particularly dramatic.
This year's index has been calculated for 117 countries and focuses on the relationship between climate change and the global hunger situation. According to them, climate change is worsening the food situation in countries that are already affected by hunger and poverty. The hunger associated with climate change is a "painful reality for millions of people," said Welthungerhilfe.
In the Central African Republic, the situation is classified as "serious". It is the only country that reaches the highest level of the WHI scale. In four countries - Chad, Madagascar, Yemen and Zambia - the hunger situation is "very serious". Overall, the index values since the year 2000 have fallen by 31 percent. They have risen, for example, in the crisis regions of Yemen and Venezuela. Of the 117 countries surveyed, 43 are seriously hungry.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the number of weather extremes has doubled, which has resulted in crop losses for the most important crops and rising food prices, according to Welthungerhilfe. Especially children and women suffered from malnutrition and malnutrition.
