The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned Wednesday that acute food insecurity will worsen for millions in 13 countries deemed "hunger hotspots" between June and November 2026. The latest early warning report identifies Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, and Gaza as the world's most critical hunger hotspots in terms of hunger severity and magnitude.
Northeast Nigeria has been added to the list of hotspots of highest concern, as projections indicate populations in Borno State may face catastrophic levels of acute hunger during the period covered by the report. Somalia has also been placed in this category, as populations in the Bay region facing a risk of famine.
Armed conflict and violence remain the primary drivers of acute hunger, affecting 12 of the 13 hotspots. These pressures are compounded by economic shocks, severe funding shortfalls, and growing risks linked to the forecasted El Niño event, which is anticipated to bring uneven rainfall, droughts, and flooding to countries that are already highly vulnerable.
“The warnings in this report cannot be ignored,” said WFP Acting Executive Director Carl Skau.
“Conflict, shocks, and disasters are forcing families to make impossible decisions about who gets to eat and who goes to bed hungry.”
These warnings come at a time of unprecedented funding shortfalls for the global humanitarian response. Funding for food assistance, nutrition crises, and emergency agriculture has plummeted by nearly 60 percent between 2022 and 2025, effectively rolling back resources to levels not seen in a decade.
This collapse in funding coincides with a sharp rise in global need: approximately 266 million people are currently facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
“Without action now, millions more are expected to face worsening levels of hunger in the months ahead, pushing some closer to famine. Our teams are ready to respond at speed and scale. We need resources to deliver food and access to reach people before hunger turns into catastrophe,” Skau said.
Additional shocks are exacerbating the outlook for millions, including the ripple effects of the escalating conflict in the Middle East, particularly the US-Israeli war on Iran and the Ebola outbreak in eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN report warns that this crises risk further disrupting livelihoods, markets, and humanitarian access.
“We already know where the next hunger emergencies will occur,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol.
"The challenge is whether we act early enough and at the necessary scale. When farmers cannot plant, herders lose their animals and markets are disrupted, food insecurity deepens quickly."
Bechdol stressed that early investment in emergency agricultural assistance and resilience is one of the most cost-effective ways to protect livelihoods, sustain local food production, and reduce future humanitarian needs.
According to the food security assessment, the most severe situations are concentrated in countries plagued by conflict, where violence, displacement, funding shortages, and restricted humanitarian access continue to drive acute food insecurity.
Sudan remains the most concerning situation globally due to the ongoing war. The report identifies a risk of famine in 14 areas across the states of North Darfur, South Darfur, and South Kordofan through September 2026. Conditions are expected to persist into early 2027 in most of these locations.
As of May, nearly 19.5 million people were experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, including 5 million facing emergency conditions. The number of people expected to face catastrophic hunger is projected to increase from 135,000 to 200,000 between June and September.
In neighboring South Sudan, more than half the population—an estimated 7.8 million people—is projected to face acute food insecurity between April and July 2026. Around 73,000 people are expected to experience catastrophic levels of hunger, and four counties remain at risk of famine.
Yemen continues to rank among the world's most severe food crises. Earlier projections indicated that 18.3 million people—more than half of Yemen's population—would experience crisis-level food insecurity or worse in 2026. This includes 5.5 million people facing emergency conditions and tens of thousands facing catastrophic hunger.
Conditions in northeast Nigeria remain particularly severe in Borno State, where 15,000 people are projected to face catastrophic hunger between June and August. The region continues to host around 2.3 million internally displaced people.
While conditions in the Gaza Strip have improved since the October 2025 ceasefire, they remain fragile. Israeli attacks, forced displacement, and restrictions on humanitarian access continue to undermine food security. Through mid-April 2026, the entire territory faced a man-made risk of famine. At that time, 1.6 million people required urgent food assistance, including more than half a million facing emergency levels of food insecurity.
In Somalia, approximately 6 million people were projected to experience acute food insecurity between April and June of 2026. The analysis identified a new risk of famine in Burhakaba District due to deteriorating conditions caused by prolonged drought, poor harvests, conflict, and wider regional instability.
Beyond these countries at the highest risk, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Haiti are classified as hotspots of very high concern.
Afghanistan is facing consecutive droughts, high food prices, and escalating conflict. Haiti has moved from the highest concern category to the very high concern category due to limited improvements, including slowing inflation and better access along some road corridors. However, conditions remain very fragile.
In DRC, acute food insecurity remains severe due to conflict in the eastern provinces and large-scale displacement. The resurgence of Ebola adds a dangerous new layer of risk by threatening to worsen acute hunger through the disruption of markets, mobility, and humanitarian operations.
Meanwhile, Myanmar, Mali, Lebanon, and Madagascar are also identified as hotspots where conditions are expected to deteriorate due to escalating conflict, economic pressures, and climate-related shocks.
The UN agencies warn that catastrophic hunger will likely persist throughout the remainder of 2026 across multiple crises, while declining humanitarian funding threatens to further undermine response efforts. They stress the importance of taking early action to prevent further deterioration and avert famine.
FAO and WFP are calling for urgent, coordinated action to ramp up humanitarian assistance, ensure safe access, invest in livelihoods, and bolster resilience. They emphasize that early action saves lives and protects livelihoods, and is significantly more cost-effective than responding after crises have escalated.
“Without stronger political commitment, predictable financing and collective action, hunger crises are likely to deepen across the world's most vulnerable regions in the months ahead,” the report said.
Further information
Full text: Hunger Hotspots. FAO–WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity. June to November 2026 outlook, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), report, published June 17, 2026
https://www.fightfoodcrises.net/sites/default/files/resource/file/CE0155EN.pdf