Europe and Central Asia - regional overview of food security and Nutrition 2019: structural transformations of agriculture for improved food security, nutrition and environment

The 2019 edition reports that, in Europe and Central Asia, food security has improved substantially over the past two decades and the vast majority of the 50 or so countries monitored managed to keep the prevalence of undernourishment below 5 percent ? less than half of the world average (10.8 percent).However, sizeable portions of the population have difficulty in regularly accessing nutritious and sufficient food. According to estimates, over 100 million people in the region are exposed to moderate or severe food insecurity ? an indicator, developed by FAO on the basis of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, to track progress towards reaching Zero Hunger.To this end, the report calls on countries to channel more public investments into agriculture and rural areas and improve the quality of spending, as expenditures in these areas are low compared to the sector’s importance in the economy. This situation can hamper the realization of food security, nutrition, and environmental goals.