Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 66% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa reported that there were times in the past year when they did not have enough money for food that they or their family needed. This figure marks a new high in nearly 15 years of World Poll research on the subcontinent and the seventh consecutive year of increases since 2012 when 51% said they had lacked money for food that they or their family needed.

According to the FAO's 2019 report The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, conflict, drought, climate change and economic downturns have all contributed to the state of increased hunger in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. This situation will likely be further compounded in 2020 by an economic slowdown resulting from COVID-19 and the worst locust swarms to hit East Africa in 70 years.

People are struggling to afford food in all corners of the African subcontinent, with 17 of 35 sub-Saharan African countries surveyed reaching new historical highs or matching previous highs on this measure. Among them are several of Africa's larger economies -- Nigeria (75%), South Africa (63%) and Ethiopia (57%).

In Zambia, where the worst drought in a century slowed famed Victoria Falls to a trickle, 82% of adults in 2019 reported not having enough money to buy food, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa and one of eight countries in Africa where at least three in four adults said they lacked money for food.

Zimbabwe, once a breadbasket of Africa, is also notable among countries on the subcontinent suffering from the most food hardship. Last year, 81% of Zimbabweans reported they did not have enough money to afford food, but as recently as 2011, 39% said the same. A confluence of weather events and economic mismanagement has contributed to rising food prices in the country, including a doubling in the price of maize, a Zimbabwean staple. Today, the World Food Programme estimates that half of Zimbabwe's 15 million people need food aid.

These results are based on face-to-face and telephone interviews with approximately 1,000 adults in each country, aged 15 and older, in 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019. For results based on the total samples, the margin of sampling error ranges from ±2.3 percentage points to ±4.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level