FAO Report Says Hunger Is Falling Fastest in South America
Key Takeaways
- •Hunger in South America has declined by one-third since 2020, reaching a record-low 3.5% of the population consuming insufficient calories.
- •Brazil was removed from the UN Hunger Map by 2025 after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva prioritized food security upon returning to office in 2023.
- •Chile and Guyana were also removed from the UN Hunger Map, while Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela are moving closer to key hunger thresholds.
- •Ecuador and Bolivia have shown modest improvement, but Suriname is the only South American country where hunger is worsening.
- •The decline is partly attributed to stronger macroeconomic stability, including more independent central banks and improved inflation management.
The share of people experiencing hunger is falling faster in South America than in any other region of the world, according to a report published on July 21 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and cited by The Economist.
The FAO report says hunger in South America has declined by one-third since 2020. Only 3.5% of people in the region now consume insufficient calories, the lowest level on record. Eliminating hunger by 2030 is one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, making South America’s progress notable because the region is now close to the benchmark used by the UN to identify countries with chronic hunger.
“If there is a region in the world that can potentially achieve that, it’s South America,” said Máximo Torero, the FAO’s chief economist.
Brazil has been one of the region’s most closely watched cases. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, made food security a priority after returning to office in 2023. By 2025, Brazil had been removed from the UN’s Hunger Map, which tracks countries where more than 2.5% of the population suffers from chronic hunger.
Chile and oil-rich Guyana were also removed from the Hunger Map. Argentina is close to the threshold, with chronic hunger below 3%. Colombia and Paraguay are approaching it at 4%, while Peru and crisis-battered Venezuela are making inroads near 5%. Ecuador and Bolivia have also improved slightly, to 11% and 20%, respectively. Suriname is the only country in the region moving in the wrong direction.
The decline is attributed in part to stronger underlying conditions, including macroeconomic stability. South America’s central banks are described as far more independent and more capable of managing inflation than they were two decades ago. That context matters for food security because high inflation can quickly erode household purchasing power, particularly for basic goods such as food.
In a Marginal Revolution post discussing the report, Tyler Cowen pointed readers to The Economist and wrote that those interested in economic development should look closely at South America, along with Mexico, Panama and the DR. He added that most of these countries are likely to keep growing, though at a modest pace.