NYT ran a recent 'splainer on the who and why of declaring famines as well:
Food insecurity experts working on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or I.P.C., an initiative controlled by U.N. bodies and major relief agencies, identify a famine in an area on the basis of three conditions: 1. At least 20 percent of households face an extreme lack of food. 2. At least 30 percent of children suffer from acute malnutrition. 3. At least two adults or four children for every 10,000 people die each day from starvation or disease linked to malnutrition.
Food insecurity experts working on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or I.P.C., an initiative controlled by U.N. bodies and major relief agencies, identify a famine in an area on the basis of three conditions: 1. At least 20 percent of households face an extreme lack of food. 2. At least 30 percent of children suffer from acute malnutrition. 3. At least two adults or four children for every 10,000 people die each day from starvation or disease linked to malnutrition.
<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/world/middleeast/what-is-...>
Archive / paywall: <https://archive.is/Hf5f5>
The classification was created in 2004, and has been used to identify two famines: Somalia (2011) and South Sudan (2017).