More Peruvians are hungry due to the political crisis and inflation

According to the latest Global Hunger Index (GHI) presented by Alliance2015, worldwide progress against hunger has stagnated and does not exceed the threshold of 18.3 points (moderate range). At the beginning of the century, the indicator was at 28.0 points (serious).

After the pandemic, hunger also became more complicated for Peru. Although the average rate is 19.6 points—that is, within a moderate scenario—in the simulations carried out by The IGH for 2023 estimates that we would move to a serious scenario (over 20 points) in the face of the crisis that hits the country: 20.2 points, to be precise.

“We were quite optimistic last year. The combination of inflation, political crisis and economic slowdown has brought the country to an index very close to the limit between moderate and serious. The outlook is quite worrying,” commented Kaspar Schmidt, director of Helvetas Peru.

By area of ​​residence, the most certain thing would be that Peruvians in rural areas suffer from the severity of hunger; while in the cities it would continue to be moderate (see graphs).

In this regard, the study recommends that we should focus on youth talent, for which it is vital to strengthen services such as quality education and guarantee access to technologies to develop more skills.

The IGH 2023 also proposes that social and economic programs promote the gender equality to break down barriers in education and employment; And precisely on this last point they urge to guarantee fair wages within food systems.

Susanna Daag, representative of the Welthungerhilfe Liaison Office for Peru and Bolivia, concludes that young people not only suffer from the failures of the current food system, but will inherit its difficulties and the challenges they entail.