17.6m Children Will Be Born Into Hunger In 2023- Group

An International child rights organisation, Save the Children, has revealed that at least 17.6 million children will be born into hunger across the world in 2023.

A statement released by the organizatio to commemorate this year’s World Children’s Day, stated that the report was contained in the new research carried out by the organisation.

The organisation added that about one-fifth more newborns face the challenge of hunger in 2023 compared to 14.4 million in 2013, according to a research analysis.

“This figure was calculated using the latest country data on the prevalence of undernourishment from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO ) and UN estimates on the number of births,” the statement said.

The statement said that according to the organisation’s analysis, Africa and Asia account for 95 percent of the world’s undernourished births in 2023.

“The data does not include the impact the escalation of violence in the occupied Palestinian territory is having on hunger or the birth rate in the region.

“Economic instability, conflicts and repeated climate shocks have contributed to a devastating hunger crisis that is affecting every corner of the world,” it said.

The statement also quoted the Head of Hunger and Nutrition at Save the Children UK, Callum Northcote, saying that more than 17 million newborns will this year enter a world where hunger will eat away their childhood.

“That’s 33 children a minute – or one child every two seconds. Hunger will destroy their dreams, silence their play, disrupt their education, and threaten their lives.

“The future of these children is already compromised before they even take their first breath. We must protect their childhoods and futures before it’s too late,” he said.

Northcote added however that huge progress has been made in the past to reduce global hunger, saying that 21.5 million children were born into hunger in 2001, one-fifth more than in 2023, according to the analysis.

“However, progress started to significantly decline in 2019, largely due economic instability, conflicts, and the worsening climate crisis,” he said.