LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022: Statistics and Trends

In a global context of adverse humanitarian conditions, the region of Latin America and the Caribbean faces important challenges in eradicating hunger and malnutrition in all its forms. Despite progress made in the region to reduce child undernutrition in the past decades, hunger and food insecurity have been on the rise in the region since 2014, reaching their highest levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other forms of malnutrition such as overweight and obesity have also increased in the region for the past two decades.

Statistics show that the prevalence of hunger in the region rose from 5.8 percent in 2015 to 8.6 percent in 2021. This prevalence is below the global average of 9.8 percent in 2021. The increase in the proportion of persons experiencing hunger during the pandemic was greater than the increase at the global level. Between 2019 and 2021 the regional prevalence of hunger increased by 28 percent, compared to a global increase of 23 percent.

In 2021, food insecurity affected 40 percent of the people in Latin America and the Caribbean, compared to a global prevalence of 29.3 percent. There are gender-specific disparities in food insecurity, with more women adversely impacted than men, reaching higher levels in the region than in the world. These worrying trends on food insecurity can be partially explained by the fact that the region has the highest level of inequality in the world and was strongly affected by the pandemic, which disproportionately affected women.

Overweight and obesity are of particular concern in Latin America and the Caribbean. The prevalence of overweight in children aged less than 5 years, and obesity in adults, are both well above the global averages, affecting people from all income levels in both rural and urban areas, including indigenous communities. If this problem is not addressed by effective policies, far-reaching effects could be experienced throughout their lifetimes, which would amount to leaving behind a large group of the population.

Latin America and the Caribbean is not only the region with the highest levels of inequality in the world, but it does record the highest cost of a healthy diet. This indicator, calculated by FAO, identifies the least-cost healthy diet available at each given time and place that meets recommendations from food based dietary guidelines (FBDGs). Across the region in 2020, 131 million people could not afford a healthy diet. The unaffordability of healthy diets strongly affects the nutrition and health of the most vulnerable populations, including children and women. Inequality in access to nutritious food is associated with hunger, stunting in children under 5 years, and anaemia in women aged 15 to 49 years.

It is important to note that these trends do not include the effects of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which has influenced energy and fertilizer prices, particularly affecting family farmers, as well as food prices. This situation disproportionately affects those living in the most vulnerable situations, and could lead to a deterioration in food security and nutrition of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean, especially in lower-income countries with higher levels of inequality and conflicts. It is particularly risky for vulnerable populations such as rural people, women, Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendants.

The first part of this edition of the Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 presents up-to-date data on the cost and affordability of healthy diets in the region. It examines the relationship of these data with socioeconomic factors such as poverty and income inequality and nutrition indicators, to support decision-making concerning food and agriculture policies. In the second part, an agrifood system approach is presented to implement and repurpose three categories of policies: (i) producer-oriented, to support and promote the diversification of the production of nutritious foods; (ii) trade- and food market-oriented for price transparency and efficiency through digitalization; and (iii) consumer-oriented, to support the income and promote healthy diets of the most vulnerable populations. Finally, examples of policies that have been implemented in the region and have contributed towards making healthy diets more affordable are presented.See Part 2 of this report, available at https://doi.org/10.4060/cc3859en

Certainly, no single policy can provide the solution on its own; what is needed is a combination of multisectoral actions, international cooperation and regional integration, involving all stakeholders of the agrifood system. National governments must take the lead in transforming the region’s agrifood systems to promote and ensure access to healthy diets for the whole population. To advance in this effort, the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition and the Food Systems Summit have been important forums for the global and regional integration of Member States, ratifying their commitments and showing the urgent need for this transformation.

We acknowledge the social, economic, and environmental difficulties affecting the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the constraints of scarce public resources, and limited international funding, and we reiterate our commitment to support governmental and non-governmental actors in implementing policies and investments that foster efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems to reduce the cost and improve the affordability of healthy diets.

Through this publication, we invite governmental and non-governmental actors to put theory into practice that is supported by evidence to guarantee the right to adequate food for all the people of Latin America and the Caribbean and to accelerate, with more commitment than ever, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets.

Mario Lubetkin Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)	Rossana Polastri Regional Director of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for Latin America and the Caribbean	Carissa F. Etienne Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Regional Director for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO)
Youssouf Abdel-Jelil Regional Director, a.i., of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for Latin America and the Caribbean		Lola Castro Regional Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) for Latin America and the Caribbean