UN report: Global hunger eases but regional disparities and costs threaten 2030 goals
While the number of people facing hunger dropped to 645 million in 2025, the United Nations warns that rising food costs, conflict, and climate extremes could derail efforts to end global hunger by the end of the decade.
A United Nations report released on 21 July 2026 estimates that 645 million people faced hunger in 2025, a decline of nearly 14 million from 2024. Despite this third consecutive year of progress, the SOFI 2026 report warns that improvements are fragile and insufficient to meet 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Africa now has the highest absolute number of hungry people (309 million), while 2.1 billion people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. The cost of a healthy diet rose to 4.28 purchasing power parity dollars per person per day in 2025, leaving 2.69 billion people unable to afford one. Projections for 2030 indicate 510 to 520 million people may still face hunger, exacerbated by the Middle East conflict, weather extremes, and reduced funding.
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026), released by five UN specialised agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), indicates that 7.8 percent of the global population faced hunger in 2025. This represents a sustained, albeit slow, improvement from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022. The report notes that while Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean have recorded steady improvements, recovery remains uneven across regions.
Africa now accounts for the highest absolute number of hungry people at 309 million, surpassing Asia’s 292 million. Although the share of Africa’s population facing hunger decreased slightly from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20.0 percent in 2025, the continent’s rapidly growing population means the absolute number of affected individuals continues to rise. Broader measures of food access show that 2.1 billion people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025, a figure that remains above pre-pandemic levels despite a reduction of nearly 86 million people compared to 2024.
Affordability of nutritious food remains a critical barrier, with the average global cost of a healthy diet rising to 4.28 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars per person per day in 2025. This increase leaves 2.69 billion people unable to afford a healthy diet, although this number has declined from 2.97 billion in 2021. Regional disparities are stark, with 66.6 percent of Africa’s population unable to afford a healthy diet in 2025, more than double the levels observed in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Looking ahead, the report projects that 510 to 520 million people may still face hunger by 2030, driven by the Middle East conflict, extreme weather events such as El Niño, and reductions in official development assistance. The joint authors warn that these factors are threatening to undermine progress, while nutrition indicators for maternal and child health show only marginal improvements, with adult obesity continuing to rise.
