22 July 2026 - Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025 showing that progress is possible, but gains remain fragile and far too slow to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline.?The warning comes in?the?latest edition of??issued on Tuesday by five United Nations agencies.?
Estimates show?that?7.8 per cent of the global population, or?roughly?645?million people, faced hunger in 2025.??
This?is?down from?8.1 per cent in 2024?and?8.6 per cent in 2022,?or?nearly?14?million fewer people?than?in 2024?and?43 million fewer?compared to?2022.?
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Uneven recovery?
The SDGs call for stamping out hunger and malnutrition by the end of the decade, but?progress?remains?uneven across regions.??
Although?Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean have recorded steady gains?in recent years,?Africa?now hosts the largest number of people facing hunger?¨C marking?a first.?
In 2025, some?309 million?people on the continent did not get enough to eat,?compared with?292 million in Asia.??
Even though?Africa¡¯s hunger rate?decreased?from?20.3 per cent in 2024?to?20.0 per cent?the following year, rapid population growth means it now has the highest number of hungry people in absolute terms.?
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Billions eating less?
Broader measures of food access show?a similar?divide.??In 2025,?roughly?2.1 billion people?across the planet?- slightly more than a quarter of the world¡¯s population (25.8 per cent) -?experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, meaning they were at times forced to compromise on the quality or quantity of food they ate.??
Even though this?represents?an?improvement from 2024 and 2020,?it is?still above pre-pandemic levels.??
In Africa,?more than half the population,?56.6 per cent,?faced moderate or severe food insecurity?in 2025, compared with?20.3 per cent in Asia,?22.9 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and?8.7 per cent in Northern America and Europe.??
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Conflict,?climate?and?rising?costs?
The annual SOFI report is published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (), the UN Children¡¯s Fund (), the World Food?Programme?()?and?the World Health Organization ().???
They warn?that?conflict in the?Middle East,?along with?weather extremes?and?reductions in?both?official development?assistance?and humanitarian funding?threaten to?undermine recent progress?towards ending global hunger.??
M¨¢ximo Torero, FAO Chief?Economist?said the crisis around the Strait of Hormuz will have an effect on food production, crop yields and hunger.?
¡°Depending on the length of the impact of the crisis on food inflation, which is driven by higher energy and fertilizer prices,?we simulate that between 510 and 520 million people may still be facing hunger in 2030,¡± he said.?
The?possible effects of weather extremes, including the El Ni?o climate pattern in 2026 and 2027, are not included in the projections and could further compound the situation.?
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Slow progress on nutrition?
Meanwhile,?progress on?nutrition?targets?remains?insufficient.?Indicators such as child stunting, wasting, overweight, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding show only marginal improvements, while?anaemia?among women aged 15 to 49 is worsening.??
Adult obesity is also?on the?rise, increasing from?12.1 per cent in 2012?to?16.2 per cent in 2024.?Furthermore, only?30.8 per cent?of children aged 6 to?23 months?worldwide consume a minimally diverse diet, and?150 million?under-fives?are still stunted.?
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Healthy?foods?still too?expensive?
The?report?also examines?the cost of a healthy diet,?which is?defined as the minimum average cost of locally available foods that meet energy and most nutrient needs.??
In 2025, the average global cost rose to?4.28?purchasing?power parity dollars per person per day, up from?3.44 in 2021?and?2.94 in 2017.??
Even so, the number of people?who cannot?afford a healthy diet fell from?2.97 billion in 2021?to?2.69 billion in 2025, but?this trend?hides deep regional inequality.???
In?Africa,?66.6 per cent?of the population could not afford a healthy diet in 2025, more than double the levels in Asia and in Latin America and the Caribbean.?
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Invest in healthy diets for all?
Yet?lowering food prices alone will not be enough?as?¡°post-farmgate activities¡±?-?which?include?processing,?logistics?and wholesale?¨C?account for?70 to 75 per cent?of what consumers pay?at the register.??
The report?calls for context-specific investments in infrastructure, research and development,?irrigation?and cold chains, alongside reforms in subsidies, trade?facilitation?and regulatory systems.?
¡°The work that lies ahead over the years to 2030 is immense,¡±?the authors said. ¡°However,?a world in which a healthy diet is no longer out of reach for nearly one in three people is a world worth building.¡±?
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