Photo: CARE Niger

Knowing Better, Responding Worse: How mistakes from 2008 led to today's food crisis

2008 and 2022 are years in which the confluence of diverse drivers caused spikes in the cost of living, food insecurity and humanitarian need, disrupting the lives and livelihoods of many around the world. The 2008 crisis drove 97 million more people into hunger, while the current crisis has driven 209.6 million more people into hunger, and that number is still climbing.

While decision-makers responded to the 2008 crisis with then unprecedented funding and systemic reforms, the 2022 crisis is not seeing similar urgency in the scale-up—and the crisis is twice as bad today. Humanitarian funding in 2022 only met approximately 56% of funding needs, as compared to a 72.5% fulfillment of appeals in 2008. 

Read the full report