The latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026) report found that 7.8% of the world’s population experienced hunger in 2025, down from 8.1% in 2024 and 8.6% in 2022.
The report, produced by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Food Programme and World Health Organisation (WHO), estimates that approximately 645 million people faced hunger in 2025. This represents a decline of nearly 14 million people compared with 2024 and 43 million compared with 2022.
Despite the improvement, the UN agencies warned that progress remains fragile, uneven and insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030.
Africa now accounts for the largest number of hungry people globally, with approximately 309 million people affected, compared with 292 million in Asia.
While Africa’s hunger rate declined slightly from 20.3% in 2024 to 20.0% in 2025, population growth has pushed the continent ahead of Asia in terms of the total number of undernourished people.
The report also found that around 2.1 billion people, or 25.8% of the global population, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025, meaning they were forced at times to reduce either the quantity or quality of food consumed.
In Africa, more than half the population, or 56.6%, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, compared with 20.3% in Asia, 22.9% in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 8.7% in North America and Europe.
The UN agencies cautioned that ongoing conflict in the Middle East, weather-related shocks and declining international aid budgets could undermine recent gains.
According to the report, between 510 million and 520 million people could still be facing hunger by 2030 because of the effects of rising food, energy and fertiliser prices linked to conflict.
The report also highlighted concern over slow progress on nutrition targets.
An estimated 150 million children under five remain stunted globally, while only 30.8% of children aged between six and 23 months consume a minimally diverse diet.
At the same time, obesity continues to rise worldwide. Adult obesity increased from 12.1% in 2012 to 16.2% in 2024, moving further away from global targets aimed at halting its growth.
The affordability of healthy diets remains another major challenge.
The average global cost of a healthy diet increased to $4.28 per person per day in 2025, up from $3.44 in 2021 and $2.94 in 2017.
Although the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet fell from 2.97 billion in 2021 to 2.69 billion in 2025, Africa experienced a worsening trend. The report found that 66.6% of Africans could not afford a healthy diet in 2025.
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said stronger action is needed despite recent gains. “The report shows that progress is possible, but we must move faster. Ending hunger and making healthy diets affordable requires political commitment, sustained investment and enabling policies.”
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said access to healthy food remains out of reach for too many people. “While we welcome the clear progress we have made in reducing hunger, a healthy diet still remains unaffordable for one in three people globally.”
Tedros added: “Healthy diets are not a luxury – they are the foundation of health and must be within everyone’s reach.”
The report concludes that reducing the cost of nutritious food will require greater investment in infrastructure, research, irrigation, cold storage facilities and more efficient food value chains, alongside policies that support sustainable agricultural production and improve food affordability.
–WHO/ChannelAfrica–
