Hunger Falls Worldwide as Africa Becomes the Epicentre of Food Insecurity

Global hunger declined for the third consecutive year in 2025, with 645 million people estimated to have faced hunger, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 report. The improvement shows that progress is possible, but persistent food insecurity in Africa, rising diet costs and mounting conflict and climate risks leave the world far from ending hunger by 2030.

An estimated 645 million people experienced hunger in 2025, equivalent to 7.8 per cent of the global population, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 report. This was nearly 14 million fewer people than in 2024 and around 43 million fewer than in 2022. Improvements in Asia and Latin America helped produce the third consecutive annual decline, giving the clearest indication in years that global hunger does not have to remain on an upward trajectory.

Africa had around 309 million people facing hunger in 2025, the largest total of any region. More than half of the continent's population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, a broader measure that includes people forced to compromise the quality or quantity of their food or living with uncertainty about their next meals.

The contrast complicates any simple narrative of global recovery. Hunger is declining overall, but progress is concentrated in regions that are already moving forward, while the heaviest burden is becoming more firmly centred in Africa. This is crucial for the 2030 goal of ending hunger. Global averages can improve even as particular countries and regions fall further behind. Unless progress reaches areas carrying the largest and most persistent burdens, the decline in the worldwide total will remain too slow to close the gap.

The report estimates that between 510 million and 520 million people could still face hunger in 2030 if existing pressures continue. Even sustained annual improvements would therefore leave hundreds of millions without adequate food at the deadline set for eliminating hunger.

Hunger is easing faster than nutritious food is becoming affordable

The report also exposes a deeper weakness in the global recovery: fewer people may be going hungry, but healthy food remains financially out of reach for a large share of the world. The average cost of a healthy diet increased to 4.28 purchasing power parity dollars per person per day in 2025. Although the number of people unable to afford such a diet fell to 2.69 billion, nearly one in three people worldwide still lacked sufficient purchasing power to obtain nutritious food.

In Africa, the affordability gap was far wider. Two-thirds of the population could not afford a healthy diet. These figures reveal the difference between having enough calories to avoid hunger and having regular access to food that supports good health. A decline in hunger does not necessarily mean that families are eating diverse or nutritious diets. Households may avoid severe food deprivation while continuing to depend on a narrow range of cheaper foods.

The problem is not only what farmers produce. It is also how food is processed, stored, transported and priced before reaching consumers. The report identifies weaknesses in food supply chains, including inadequate processing, transport and storage, as factors keeping nutritious foods expensive. Perishable products are particularly dependent on irrigation, efficient logistics and cold-storage facilities. When these systems are weak, food losses can increase and the final price paid by consumers can remain high.

This shifts the policy debate beyond agricultural output. Producing more food will not automatically make healthy diets affordable if markets, roads, storage systems and household incomes remain weak.

Investment in irrigation, agricultural research, processing, transport and cold chains can help reduce costs and improve availability. But infrastructure alone will not resolve the problem for households without adequate income. Social protection, employment, health services and education also shape whether families can purchase and use nutritious food.

The world is fighting several forms of malnutrition at once

The improvement in hunger also sits alongside slow or worsening trends in other forms of malnutrition. Around 150 million children under five remain affected by stunting, which reflects impaired growth associated with prolonged nutritional deprivation and other health conditions. Only about 31 per cent of children between six and 23 months receive a minimally diverse diet.

Child stunting and exclusive breastfeeding have improved in some regions, but not quickly enough to meet international targets by 2030. At the same time, anaemia among women continues to worsen and adult obesity has risen steadily over the past decade.

These trends show that the nutrition crisis cannot be understood as a single shortage of food. Undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity can advance at the same time, sometimes within the same communities. For instance, a household may consume enough calories while lacking iron, vitamins, protein or dietary diversity. Cheap, highly accessible food may reduce immediate hunger without delivering adequate nutrition. The result is a food system that can leave some people undernourished while contributing to unhealthy weight gain among others.

This is why nutrition policy cannot remain confined to food production. Health services influence maternal and child nutrition. Education affects feeding practices and dietary choices. Social protection determines whether low-income families can afford diverse food. Water, sanitation and healthcare also shape whether nutrients are absorbed and whether children develop properly.

The report's findings suggest that progress against hunger should not be treated as a complete measure of food-system performance. A country can reduce the number of people facing chronic hunger while continuing to struggle with poor diets, childhood growth failures, anaemia and obesity.

A fragile recovery now faces conflict, climate and funding shocks

The decline in hunger is encouraging, but it remains exposed to forces capable of reversing it quickly. The UN agencies behind the report, FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, warn that conflicts in the Middle East, reductions in humanitarian funding and increasingly frequent extreme weather events could slow or undo recent gains.

Conflict can interrupt farming, displace communities and restrict the movement of food and humanitarian assistance. Extreme weather can damage crops, livestock, water supplies and rural livelihoods. Economic pressure can simultaneously increase food prices and reduce household purchasing power.

Reductions in humanitarian funding add another risk. Emergency assistance often supports populations already living close to severe food deprivation. When funding falls while conflict, displacement or climate-related needs remain high, the consequences are likely to be felt first by those with the fewest alternatives.

These pressures highlight the difference between a statistical improvement and a durable recovery. Hunger can decline for several years without the systems that support food security becoming sufficiently resilient. The next test will be whether the downward trend continues while the world confronts new shocks. Particular attention should be paid to whether Africa begins to share in the global improvement, whether the cost of healthy diets stabilises and whether humanitarian funding keeps pace with rising needs.

Governments and development institutions will also need to demonstrate that calls for resilient food systems are being translated into investment. Irrigation, transport, storage, research, healthcare and social protection are interconnected parts of the same food-security challenge.