Hunger is the physical sensation of discomfort or pain caused by insufficient consumption of dietary energy. In this report, the term “hunger” is used as a synonym for undernourishment, which is defined as the condition of an individual whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the amount of dietary energy necessary to maintain a normal, active and healthy life.

The prevalence of hunger is an indicator (2.1.1) that is part of SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), particularly related to target 2.1 which seeks, by 2030, to end hunger and ensure access for all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to healthy, nutritious and sufficient food throughout the year. This is calculated through an estimate that takes into account the average minimum calorie requirement, the average calorie consumption and the coefficient of variation of the daily consumption of the population. 

Latin America and the Caribbean, along with Asia, are the only regions that reversed the upward trend in hunger that had been observed since 2019. The prevalence of hunger decreased to 6.5 percent in 2022 from 7 percent in 2021, affecting a total of 43 .2 million people in the region. This prevalence was below the global level, which was 9.2 percent. At the subregional level, the prevalence of hunger was 5.1 percent in Mesoamerica, 6.1 percent in South America and 16.3 percent in the Caribbean.

South America was the only subregion in which a decrease was recorded, while in Mesoamerica it remained the same (0.1 percentage point increase) and in the Caribbean it increased 1.6 percentage points. 

Food insecurity refers to restricted access to food, for individuals or households, due to limitations of money or other resources. Consequently, it is defined as a lack of continued access to food, which decreases the quality of the diet, disrupts normal eating habits and can have negative consequences for nutrition, health and well-being.

The prevalence and moderate or severe food insecurity (SDG indicator 2.1.2) is based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). It is developed using the FIES Survey Module, which consists of eight questions related to people's access to adequate food, and can be easily integrated into various types of population surveys.

Based on the measurement, the degree of severity can be identified, with moderate food insecurity being a situation in which people face uncertainties regarding their ability to obtain food and are forced, at certain times of the year, to reduce the amount or the quality of the food they consume. This is due to lack of money or other resources. While severe food insecurity is the situation in which people have probably run out of food, suffer hunger and, in the most extreme case, go days without eating, putting their health and well-being at serious risk.

The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity decreased between 2021 and 2022, reaching 37.5 percent in 2022 compared to 40.3 percent for the previous year. However, this prevalence remains above the world level (29.6 percent). This decrease breaks an upward trend that the region had experienced between 2015 and 2021, a period in which the increase in the region had been 13 percentage points, compared to an increase of 7.9 percentage points worldwide.

When broken down by subregion, it is observed that in South America moderate or severe food insecurity affected 36.4 percent of the population in 2022, while in Mesoamerica the prevalence was 34.5 percent. The figure is even higher in the Caribbean, where 60.6 percent of the population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, and of those, about half (30.5 percent) experienced severe food insecurity.

In addition, food insecurity affects different groups of the population unequally, with women and residents of rural areas being the most vulnerable. Women face greater food insecurity than men with a gap of 9.1 percentage points, which is greater than the global gap. Furthermore, food insecurity increases as the level of urbanization decreases. That is, rural and peri-urban populations experience a higher prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity than those who live in urban areas. 

The decrease in the prevalence of both conditions at the regional level is explained due to the improvement in the South American subregion, where both decreased between 2021 and 2022. However, in Mesoamerica, the trend grew slightly, and the Caribbean also saw an increase in the prevalence of hunger.

The decrease in South America, a subregion that is a net exporter of food and agricultural products, was largely due to the positive evolution of labour markets, which offset the increase in inflation, as well as social protection policies. Additionally, some countries in the region have benefited from rising oil and gas prices, which have boosted export earnings. This has resulted in improved public budget resources (which could be used to finance social protection programmes) and investment in agriculture and food distribution systems.

In the Caribbean, more than one country has suffered from high food inflation and an increase in the value of imports, given the subregion's dependence on imported food and agricultural products. At the same time, export earnings have declined in key sectors such as tourism, leading to increased food insecurity.

In Mesoamerica, the increase in the prevalence of both conditions has been lower than in the Caribbean due to different situations experienced by the countries of this subregion. Although some have shown improvements in the labour market and some have increased tax revenues, other countries have not yet fully recovered from successive crises, which has had significant inflationary impacts on their economies.

Malnutrition is an abnormal physiological condition caused by inadequate, unbalanced or excessive intake of macronutrients and/or micronutrients. Malnutrition includes undernutrition (stunting and wasting in children, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies), as well as overweight and obesity.

In 2022, the prevalence of stunting in boys and girls under 5 years of age in Latin America and the Caribbean was 11.5 percent, approximately 11 percentage points below the global average. All subregions have made positive progress in reducing stunting. However, there are countries in the region with a prevalence of this condition similar to or above the global estimate. Between 2000 and 2022, South America reduced stunting by 38 percent, Mesoamerica by 33 percent and the Caribbean by 26 percent.

By contrast, 8.6 percent of boys and girls under 5 years of age were overweight in 2022, which is 3 percentage points above the world average (5.6 percent). In all three subregions – South America, the Caribbean and Mesoamerica – the prevalence was above that recorded in 2012. Although this prevalence had been increasing since 2000 at the regional level, the increase accelerated between 2019 and 2022 in the context of the pandemic.

In addition, in the region, anaemia affects 17.2 percent of women between 15 and 49 years old, a percentage significantly lower than the world average in 2019. In the Caribbean, however, almost 30 percent of women between 15 and 49 years old are affected by anae

Finally, obesity affected almost a quarter of the adult population (24.2 percent) in 2016 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The latest figure available for this indicator is well above the world average of 13.1 percent. Obesity in adults showed a significant increase throughout the region between 2000 and 2016, which was 9.5 percentage points in the Caribbean, 8.2 percentage points in Mesoamerica and 7.2 percentage points in South America.

Mesoamerica shows the highest prevalence of obesity in adults (27.3 percent), followed by the Caribbean (24.7 percent) and South America (23 percent). 

A healthy diet is one that guarantees the satisfaction of a person's energy needs (without excessive energy intake), macronutrients (proteins, fats and carbohydrates with dietary fibre) and essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), taking into account their sex, age, level of physical activity and physiological status. That is, a healthy diet must contain sufficient diversity and a balanced amount of all food groups, including fruit, vegetables, starchy staple foods, foods of animal origin, legumes, nuts and seeds, and oils and fats.

The composition of a healthy diet varies depending on the availability of food in countries and territories, but there is a consensus that healthy diets should contain a minimum of 400 grams of fruits and vegetables per day, and the energy contribution of fats should be less than 30 percent of total energy intake (where saturated fats should not contribute more than 10 percent of calories), preferring unsaturated fats and eliminating industrial trans fats. Additionally, free sugar intake should not exceed 10 percent of total energy intake, and salt intake should be less than 5 grams per day. 

The cost of a healthy diet is defined as the cost of the most affordable foods available locally to meet the energy needs of 2,330 kcal/day, as well as the nutrient requirements established by national food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs), with sufficient diversity and quantity between and within food groups. Specifically, it is the sum of the cheapest foods available in each country from the six food groups identified in a healthy diet: fruits, vegetables, basic starchy foods, foods of animal origin, legumes, nuts and seeds, as well as oils and fats.

The region registers the highest cost of a healthy diet compared to other regions of the world, a figure that reaches 4.08 dollars per person per day, while the world average is 3.66 dollars. By subregion, the cost is 4.41 dollars in the Caribbean, followed by South America and Mesoamerica with 3.82 dollars and 3.63 dollars, respectively. This means that, at the regional level, 22.7 percent of the population could not access a healthy diet, which is below the world average of 42.2 percent.

The cost of a healthy diet increased by 5.3 percent between 2020 and 2021 at the regional level. This increase is related to the increase in food inflation that occurred in 2021, as well as the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the functioning of global supply chains and the increase in international food prices due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. In this context, South America showed the largest increase, with 6.5 percent, followed by the Caribbean with 5 percent and Mesoamerica with 4.1 percent.