Hunger affects 42.5 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018. South America hosts the majority of undernourished people due to declining food security in Venezuela, says a new UN report, jointly conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Health (WHO) and the World Food Program (WFP), entitled "2019 - The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World".

According to this report, over the last five years (2014-2018), undernutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean has increased mainly due to the situation in South America, where the percentage of people suffering from hunger go from 4.6% in 2013 to 5.5% in 2018. South America is home to 55% of undernourished people in the region, and the increase is mainly due to the deterioration of food security in Venezuela, where the prevalence of undernourishment has increased fourfold, from 6.4% in 2012-2014 to 21.2% in 2016-2018.

On the other hand, the percentage of undernourishment in Central America (6.1%) has been decreasing since 2013, even if it is higher than that of South America (5.5%).

From 2000 to 2015, Latin America and the Caribbean halved the undernourishment of their population. But the number of people suffering from hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean rose in 2018 for the third year in a row, partly because of the economic slowdown and the situation in Venezuela, according to the United Nations (UN). The new report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world, presented by five UN agencies, states that the percentage of people suffering from hunger in the region has increased from 6.2% of the population 2015 at 6.5% in 2017, which was maintained in 2018

Ranking of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean :

(In % of the population affected by under-nourishment)

1 - Haiti 49.3%

2 - Venezuela 21.2%

3 - Bolivia 17.1%

4 - Nicaragua 17%

5 - Guatemala 15.2%

6 - Honduras 12.9%

7 - Paraguay 10.7%

8 - Panama 10%

9 - Peru 9.7%

10 - Dominican Republic 9.5%

11 - El Salvador 9%

12 - Suriname 8.5%

13 - Guyana 8.1%

14 - Jamaica 8%

15 - Ecuador 7.9%

16 - Belize 7.5%

17 - Dominica 6.2%

18 - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 5.7%

19-Trinidad and Tobago 5.5%

20 - Colombia and Costa Rica 4.8%

21 - Argentina 4,6%

22 - Barbados 3.9%

23 - Mexico 3.6%

24 - Chile 2.7%

25 - Cuba <2.5%

26 - Brazil <2.5%

27 - Uruguay <2.5%

S/ HaitiLibre