18 October 2016: The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have released a study that estimates the cost to end hunger as well as the contribution that donors need to make to achieve this Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target (2.1).

The research considers that a country has achieved the goal of ending hunger when the number of hungry people is less than 5 percent of the population.

The research is based on an examination of the costs to end hunger in seven African countries: Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. In addition to calculating the costs to end hunger in these seven countries, this sample provided data to extrapolate the cost of ending hunger at a global scale.

For the seven African countries, the research found that it would cost, on average, an extra US$1 billion per year between now and 2030 to end hunger. Approximately US$400 million of the extra cost would need to come from donors, while the remainder would come from the seven national governments. The research indicates that donor spending would therefore need to increase by 40%, while these expenditures are expected to trigger an increase of US$2.8 billion in private agricultural investment.

Globally, the research estimates that it will cost, on average, an additional US$11 billion per year of public spending between now and 2030 to end hunger, and that US$4 billion of the additional spending would need to come from donors. The remaining US$7 billion would need to come from national governments. Globally, public spending would be expected to generate an additional US$5 billion in private investment through 2030. [Publication: Ending Hunger: What Would it Cost?]