According to a report published Tuesday by five United Nations agencies, global hunger declined in 2025 for the third consecutive year, indicating that progress toward the Zero Hunger goal is possible. However, the report warns that these improvements are fragile and unevenly distributed, and they are insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The 2026 edition of the annual report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI), was launched today in Rome by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The report estimates that 7.8 percent of the global population — about one in thirteen — faced hunger in 2025. This figure is down from 8.1 percent in 2024, 8.5 percent in 2023, and 8.6 percent in 2022, confirming a sustained, albeit slow, improvement. This equates to approximately 645 million people experiencing hunger in 2025, reflecting a decrease of nearly 14 million compared to 2024 and 43 million compared to 2022.
Despite this global progress, the situation varied widely across continents and regions. Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean have recorded steady improvements in recent years. In contrast, Africa is now home to approximately 309 million hungry people, compared to 292 million in Asia.
Africa now has the largest number of people facing hunger
Although Africa’s rising trend is beginning to stabilize and the share of its population facing hunger decreased slightly from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20.0 percent in 2025, the continent now has the highest number of hungry people in absolute terms amid a rapidly growing population, according to the report’s authors.
Other indicators show a similar trend: in 2025, an estimated 25.8 percent of the global population (approximately 2.1 billion people) experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. This figure has decreased from 27.1 percent in 2024 and 28.7 percent in 2020, representing a decline of nearly 86 million and 135 million people, respectively.
Yet regional disparities remain stark. In 2025, more than half of Africa’s population (56.6 percent) faced moderate or severe food insecurity, compared to 20.3 percent in Asia, 22.9 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 8.7 percent in North America and Europe.
The UN agencies warn that, despite sustained, gradual improvement in recent years, global hunger and food insecurity remain far above the targets set by the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The annual report also provides updated projections for the number of people facing hunger over the next five years, considering the broader conflict in the Middle East.
Depending on how long the crisis impacts food inflation, which is driven by higher energy and fertilizer prices, approximately 510 to 520 million people could still be facing hunger in 2030. This is compared to a lower projection of 503 million people experiencing hunger in a pre-conflict scenario.
However, these projections do not consider other potential disruptions, including the effects of climate patterns such as El Niño in 2026 and 2027 and related extreme weather events, which could further compound the effects of the crisis.
The report’s authors emphasize that the 2026 Middle East conflict, coupled with weather extremes, reductions in official development assistance, and cuts in humanitarian funding, threatens to undermine progress toward ending global hunger.
Additionally, the report highlights that global progress on nutrition targets is insufficient to meet international commitments. Indicators such as child stunting, wasting, and low birthweight have shown only marginal improvement, and the rate of progress is still too slow to meet the targets.
For example, only 30.8 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months worldwide consume a minimally diverse diet, and 150 million children under five suffer from stunting.
Further information
Full text: The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026), report, jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), released July 21, 2026
https://doi.org/10.4060/cd8306en