A/HRC/45/40 IV. The contemporary human development setting A. Extreme poverty 36. As noted in the 2016 report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, while it is hoped that the 2030 Agenda will indeed lead to greater respect for economic and social rights as human rights, this is by no means guaranteed by the terms of the Agenda, and much remains to be done if that aspiration is to be meaningfully promoted. 17 Moreover, while the progressive elimination of poverty is recognized as a prerequisite for the realization of the right to development throughout the world, 18 hundreds of millions of people worldwide continue to be left behind and have yet to realize their right to development. 37. According to the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2019, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, 1.3 billion people in the 101 countries it studied – 31 low-income, 68 middle-income and 2 high-income – are defined as being “multidimensionally poor”. The term refers to poverty that is defined not simply in income terms, but by a number of indicators such as poor health, poor quality of work and the threat of violence. According to the report, action against poverty is needed in all developing regions, with Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia home to some 84.5 per cent of the poor. Over half of those identified as poor are children under 18 years of age (some 663 million), and around one third are children under 10 years of age (some 428 million) . 19 Furthermore, the World Bank estimates that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic could lead to an additional 49 million people falling back into extreme poverty.20 B. Hunger, food security, health and nutrition 38. While access to adequate food is a human right, over 820 million people – or one in every nine people globally – were still hungry in 2018 despite concerted efforts. After a decade of steady decline, the absolute number of people suffering from hunger has slowly increased for several years in a row. The percentage of hungry people has risen to 10.8 per cent in the period 2015–2018, underscoring the immense challenge of achieving Goal 2 (zero hunger) by 2030. Indeed, the world presently appears off-track to meet most Goal targets linked to hunger, food security and nutrition. Hunger is rising in almost all subregions of Africa and, to a lesser extent, in Latin America and Western Asia. There has been great progress in South Asia in the last five years, but the prevalence of undernourishment there is still the highest in Asia. It is disturbing that about 2 billion people in the world experience moderate or severe food insecurity and their lack of regular access to nutritious and sufficient food puts them at greater risk of malnutrition and poor health. While moderate or severe food insecurity is primarily concentrated in low- and middle-income countries, it also affects 8 per cent of the population of North America and Europe. Moreover, in every continent, the rate of prevalence of food insecurity is slightly higher among women than men.21 17 18 19 20 21 8 A/HRC/32/31, para. 7. www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Development/RTDBook/PartIChapter1.pdf. http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/mpi_2019_publication.pdf. UN News, “COVID-19 pandemic exposes global ‘frailties and inequalities’: UN deputy chief”, 3 May 2020. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Fund for Agricultural Development, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Food Programme and World Health Organization, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019: Safeguarding Against Economic Slowdowns and Downturns (Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2019).