Between 2019 and 2020, 4.8 million people in the Arab world were malnourished “in all social classes and in countries affected or not affected by conflict,” according to the organization.
She pointed out that the most affected countries are Somalia, where 59.5 percent of the population suffers from hunger, while its fragile government has faced an extremist insurgency since 2007, and Yemen, which has been witnessing a seven-year war, where hunger has affected 45.4 percent of the population.
“141 million people in the region experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2020, an increase of 10 million over the previous year,” the FAO report quoted by AFP.
Thus, hunger has increased by 91.1% in the Arab world over the past twenty years, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
This has been accompanied by public health problems, with 20.5% of children under the age of five in the region being stunted and 10.7 percent of this age group being overweight.
Adult obesity remains a major public health problem in the region.
In 2020, the rate for adults was 28.8 percent, more than double the global average of 13.1 percent.
Obesity is spread at higher rates in the richer countries, led by the Gulf countries, led by Kuwait with 37.4%.
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