The data and the analyses in this report were prepared before the global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and do not account for its impact on vulnerable people in food-crisis situations. In 2019, 135 million people faced acute food insecurity that required urgent action (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) in 55 countries and territories analysed across the world, according to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2020. Of this population, 20 percent, or 27.6 million people, resided in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region in East Africa. Three major crises in the IGAD region were among the 10 worst food crises in the world, namely Ethiopia (8 million), South Sudan (7 million), and the Sudan (5.9 million). In terms of prevalence of acute food insecurity, the highest shares were found in South Sudan, where 61 percent of the analysed population was in Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above), followed by Ethiopia (27 percent), Kenya (22 percent), Somalia (17 percent) and the Sudan (14 percent). Acute food insecurity levels across the IGAD region have steadily increased since the GRFC was launched in 2016. Between 2018 and 2019, the number of people in need of urgent food assistance (IPC Phase 3 or above) increased by 2 percent, or about 650 000 people, largely driven by rising numbers of acutely food-insecure people in South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda. The numbers were stable in Ethiopia (though the method of analysis changed) and decreased in the Sudan and Somalia.