Some 355 million people in Africa were moderately or severely food insecure in 2015, compared with a marginal increase in moderate or severe food insecurity globally and a modest increase in Latin America, South East Asia and Western Asia. These figures compare with no change in the prevalence of severe food insecurity globally, a significant deterioration in South East Asia, with an increase of 24 per cent, and a moderate increase, of 5.3 percent, in Western Asia. A total of 161 million people in Africa were severely food insecure in 2015. By far, the majority of them, or 96 per cent, were from rural areas.