The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released a new report titled ‘The State of Food and Agriculture 2023’.
Approximately 29.6% of the global population, corresponding to 2.4 billion people, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2022.
Among them, roughly 900 million individuals (11.3% of the global population) faced severe food insecurity.
Among the nine South Asian countries, India had the third highest prevalence of undernourishment (233.9 million) in the total population, after Afghanistan and Pakistan,
The biggest hidden costs (more than 70 percent) are driven by unhealthy diets, high in ultra-processed foods, fats and sugars.
These costs reach over USD 7 trillion annually and have far-reaching consequences.
The majority of hidden costs were generated in upper-middle-income (39%) and high-income countries (36%), with lower-middle-income countries at 22% and low-income countries at 3%.
India's total hidden costs in agrifood systems were approximately USD 1.1 trillion, ranking as the third-largest globally after China and the United States.
The burden of disease (productivity losses from dietary patterns) accounted for the largest share (60%) of hidden costs in India.
It is followed by social costs of poverty (14%) and environmental costs from nitrogen emissions (13%).