Geneva: Extreme poverty and hunger are on the rise worldwide for the first time in decades, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.

"So instead of continuing this progress, we now have gone into reverse. Extreme poverty and hunger are rising for the first time in decades," Guterres said at the opening of the 52nd regular session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

According to the UN statistics, 339 million people around the world are in need of humanitarian assistance in 2023, which is 25% more than in 2022.

(With UNI inputs)