Nearly 6 Million Haitians Face Severe Hunger as Gangs, Prices and El Niño Deepen Crisis
A new U.N.-backed report warns the number could reach 6.35 million by mid-2027 as violence blocks aid and farmland.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Nearly 5.94 million people in Haiti are experiencing severe food insecurity, with almost two million facing emergency conditions, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a multi-partner U.N. initiative, as reported by AP News via The Haitian Times.
The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization called the figure "one of the highest levels in the world today," noting that more than half of Haiti's population of nearly 12 million struggles to eat every day. The number of Haitians facing severe hunger increased by nearly a quarter of a million since the initiative's last report in April and could surge to 6.35 million by mid-2027.
The crisis is blamed on surging gang violence, displacement, blocked roads, high food and fuel prices and extreme El Niño conditions. Maxime Ngalula, Action Against Hunger's country director for Haiti, said families sometimes travel up to nine miles to reach food distribution sites. The World Food Program said it requires $78 million to sustain operations through March.
The report comes amid a spike in fighting after four Salvadorean aviation technicians went missing in an Oct. 18 attack, prompting El Salvador to deploy more than 1,000 soldiers.