UN report: Global hunger declines but remains above pre-pandemic levels

A United Nations report released on 21 July 2026 states that the number of people facing hunger globally fell to an estimated 645 million in 2025, a decrease of 14 million from 2024 and 43 million from 2022. Despite this third consecutive year of improvement, hunger levels remain higher than in 2019. Africa remains the primary hotspot, with 309 million undernourished people in 2025. The report warns that ongoing conflicts, including the 2026 US-Israel war on Iran, and climate extremes continue to drive acute food shortages. Additionally, a separate FAO and World Food Programme report identified 1.4 million people facing catastrophic hunger, with significant concentrations in Gaza and Sudan.

The global prevalence of hunger was 7.8 percent in 2025, down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022. The number of people unable to afford a healthy diet fell from 2.97 billion in 2021 to 2.69 billion in 2025. The global cost of a healthy diet reached $4.28 per day in 2025, up from $3.44 in 2021. In Africa, the prevalence of hunger fell slightly from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20 percent in 2025, but population growth meant the total number of hungry people continued to increase. The UN projects that the global number of undernourished people will fall by about 20 percent by 2030, though 510 million to 520 million are still expected to face hunger. Gaza has the largest number of people facing catastrophic hunger (640,700 people), followed by Sudan (637,200 people). The report warns that the 2026 US-Israel war on Iran could undermine progress, particularly in Africa and Asia.

Africa remains the world’s hunger hotspot, with an estimated 309 million undernourished people in 2025, equivalent to one in five people on the continent. This figure represents almost half of the world’s hungry population. By comparison, 292 million people in Asia, or 6 percent of the population, and 32 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, or 4.8 percent, experienced undernourishment. Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean have made steady progress in reducing both the share and the number of people facing hunger in recent years. In Africa, the long-running rise in hunger appears to have stalled, with the prevalence falling slightly from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20 percent in 2025, although population growth meant the total number of hungry people continued to increase.

Looking ahead, the UN projects that the global number of undernourished people will fall by about 20 percent by 2030 compared with current estimates. Even so, 510 million to 520 million people are still expected to face hunger by the end of the decade, with 56 percent of them living in Africa. The report also warned that recent crises, including the 2026 US-Israel war on Iran, could undermine progress, particularly in Africa and Asia. These projections highlight the persistent structural challenges in achieving food security, even as immediate conflict-driven crises exacerbate vulnerabilities in specific regions.

Affordability remains a major challenge, particularly in the Global South. The number of people unable to afford a healthy diet fell from 2.97 billion in 2021 to 2.69 billion in 2025, suggesting that available income for food increased faster than costs on average. However, the global cost of a healthy diet reached $4.28 per day in 2025, up from $3.44 in 2021. While Asia has the largest number of people unable to afford a healthy diet at 1.4 billion, Africa faces the highest rate with 1.03 billion people, or nearly two-thirds of the population, unable to afford nutritious food. This underscores persistent inequalities in access to nutritious food across regions, with the share of people unable to afford a healthy diet increasing in Africa while it declined in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Northern America and Europe.

A separate report by the FAO and World Food Programme identified approximately 1.4 million people worldwide facing catastrophic hunger, with significant concentrations in Gaza and Sudan. Gaza has the largest number of people facing catastrophic hunger with about 640,700 people, representing 32 percent of its population. Sudan follows closely behind with 637,200 people experiencing catastrophic hunger, although they account for about 1 percent of the country’s population. Other countries reporting people in this extreme category include South Sudan, Yemen, Haiti, and Mali. Catastrophic hunger occurs when households have exhausted all means to survive and face an extreme lack of food and basic needs, requiring immediate action to prevent further loss of life.