64.5 crore people faced hunger in 2025, UN report

• Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026) report released by five United Nations specialised agencies on July 21.

• The report estimates that 7.8 per cent of the global population faced hunger in 2025, down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 per cent in 2022, confirming a sustained, albeit slow, improvement. 

• This means that around 645 million people were affected by hunger in 2025, representing a reduction of nearly 14 million compared to 2024 and 43 million compared to 2022.

• However, the improvements remain fragile, unevenly distributed and insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

• The report was jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation 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 Organisation (WHO).

Recovery remains uneven across regions

• Asia, together with Latin America and the Caribbean, has recorded steady improvements in recent years. 

• In contrast, Africa is now home to approximately 309 million hungry people, compared with 292 million in Asia. 

• Although Africa’s previously rising trend is beginning to stabilise, with the share of its population facing hunger decreasing from 20.3 per cent in 2024 to 20 per cent in 2025, the continent now has the highest number of hungry people in absolute terms amid a rapidly growing population.

• In 2025, an estimated 25.8 per cent of the global population (around 2.1 billion people) experienced moderate or severe food insecurity.

• It means they were at times forced to compromise on the quality or quantity of the food they ate. 

• This is down from 27.1 per cent in 2024 and 28.7 per cent in 2020 — equivalent to nearly 86 million fewer people than in 2024 and 135 million fewer than in 2020, though still above pre-pandemic levels.

• More than half of Africa’s population (56.6 per cent) faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025, compared to 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. 

• Food insecurity also continues to be more prevalent in rural areas than in peri-urban and urban areas, while women remain disproportionately affected, although the gender gap narrowed slightly in 2025.

Hunger projections in the context of the Middle East conflict

• The report warns that the 2026 Middle East conflict, along with weather extremes and the reductions in official development assistance and humanitarian funding, are threatening to undermine the progress made to end global hunger.

• It offers updated hunger projections for the next five years in light of the conflict in the Middle East. 

• Depending on the length of the impact of the crisis on food inflation approximately 510 to 520 million people may still be facing hunger in 2030 (compared to the lower projection of 503 million in the pre-conflict scenario).

• The global number of undernourished people are expected to decrease by 20 per cent. 

• However, other potential disruptors, including the effects of weather extremes such as El Nino in 2026 and 2027, are not considered in these projections and could further compound these effects.

Slow progress on nutrition 

• 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. 

• 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.

• Progress again varies significantly across regions. The prevalence of child stunting is declining in Africa and is on track to meet the 2030 target in Asia, while exclusive breastfeeding rates are improving across all regions where data is available.

Rise in cost of a healthy diet

• The cost of a healthy diet is the average minimum expenditure required to obtain locally available foods that meet energy and most nutrient requirements. 

• A healthy diet is one that is adequate, balanced, diverse, and moderate.

• Healthy diets are essential to achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), but remain economically out of reach for large segments of the global population

• In 2025, the average global cost of a healthy diet rose to 4.28 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars per person per day, up from 3.44 PPP dollars in 2021 and 2.94 PPP dollars in 2017.

• PPP is an economic metric used by the UN and the World Bank to compare food affordability worldwide. It measures the amount of local currency needed to buy a nutritionally balanced diet.

• At the same time, the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet has declined — from 2.97 billion (37.4 per cent of the global population) in 2021 to 2.69 billion (32.7 per cent) in 2025.

• Healthy diet costs vary widely across regions due to structural differences in agrifood systems. 

• Animal source foods, fruits and vegetables account for the largest share of costs, while starchy staples contribute relatively little. 

• Animal source foods are the largest contributor to the cost of a healthy diet in Africa, whereas vegetables represent the largest share in Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Food value chains are a major determinant of prices. 

• Post-farmgate activities account for 70 to 75 per cent of what consumers pay, with up to 40 per cent of total costs arising in processing, logistics and wholesale. 

• Improving efficiency in these segments is therefore critical, particularly for lowering the cost of perishable, nutrient-rich foods.

• Reducing the cost of a healthy diet requires context-specific policy responses that expand the supply of nutritious foods while lowering structural costs across agrifood value chains. 

• This includes investments in infrastructure, research and development, irrigation and cold chains, alongside reforms in subsidies, trade facilitation and regulatory frameworks.

• Targeted interventions that boost productivity, reduce losses and promote sustainable practices can simultaneously improve nutrition outcomes, strengthen resilience and support climate goals.