April 25, 2024
News

Nearly 60% of North Koreans now food insecure, worsened estimates after COVID-19

More than half of North Koreans suffer from food insecurity, but the situation is expected to slightly improve by 2030

North Korea is suffering from severe malnutrition and food insecurity, with one of the highest gaps in daily caloric intake in all of Asia, according to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report. Those estimates also became slightly worse after the COVID-19 novel coronavirus spread around the world.

The new International Food Security Assessment report, which covers projections for 2020 to 2030, estimates that 15.3 million North Koreans — or 59.8% of the population — is “food insecure.” This means that more than half of the North Korean population does not have enough food to eat or suffers from uncertain access to food.

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