Regional Overview – Western Hemisphere

World Poverty & Hunger by the Numbers

In the early years of the 21st Century

*** ARCHIVES ***

The World Bank - Annual Report 2019

www.worldbank.org/en/about/annual-report/

[accessed 30 September 2020]

WORLD BANK FISCAL YEAR COMMITMENTS - The World Bank approved $6.1 billion in lending to the region for 37 operations in fiscal 2019 (of which one was an IBRD and IDA blended operation), including $5.7 billion in IBRD loans and $430 million in IDA commitments.

COVID-19 And Climate Shocks Driving Dramatic Increase In Hunger In Latin America, New Studies Find

Action Against Hunger, New York, 4 March 2021

[Long URL]

[accessed 6 March 2021]

More than 85 percent of families living in rural areas across Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras face food insecurity, according to a household survey conducted by a coalition of humanitarian and development organizations, including Action Against Hunger, a leader in the global fight against hunger. Two additional surveys conducted by the organization in Colombia and Peru also indicate alarmingly high levels of hunger as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Although Latin America has more than 19 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the people we serve say they are more afraid of hunger than the virus," said Miguel García, Action Against Hunger's Regional Director for Central America. "Those who depended on informal daily labor have lost their incomes because of movement restrictions. In the markets, food is increasingly expensive because of the pandemic's economic and commercial consequences."

One of the most critical areas is known as the Dry Corridor, which extends from Nicaragua to Guatemala and includes parts of El Salvador and Honduras, where the World Food Program says at least 1.4 million people are in need of food assistance. Action Against Hunger and its partners surveyed thousands of households in this region in October and November 2020. In one sample of 3,700 homes, 86% of families were experiencing food insecurity.

Adding to the socioeconomic damage caused by the pandemic are the impacts of severe drought in 2018 and 2019, along with hurricanes Iota and Eta, which hit the region in November 2020 and caused displacement and crop loss. Families faced with extreme poverty and hunger have gone into debt, resorted to borrowing from family or friends, or are selling their scarce possessions.

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