Food: Rethinking global security

Abstract

Today, humanity produces sufficient calories, in theory, to feed the 7.7 billion people on the planet: the amount of food produced per person on the planet has gone up more than 40% since the 1960s. Yet, ironically, the prevalence of undernourishment - which had been declining for decades - has started to tip upwards again: the total number of people undernourished in 2018 stood at more than 820 million people, up from a record low of 785 million in 2015 (see Figure: Hunger rising). At the same time, some 1.9 billion people are overweight, and 650 million are obese.