The global fight against hunger, while showing glimmers of progress, remains a precarious endeavor, according to the latest comprehensive report released by five United Nations specialized agencies. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026) reveals that while hunger has declined for a third consecutive year, these improvements are fragile, unevenly distributed, and critically insufficient to meet the ambitious Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030. The report, a culmination of data and analysis from the Food and Agriculture Organization 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 Organization (WHO), paints a complex picture of both hope and urgent concern.
In 2025, an estimated 7.8 percent of the global population, or approximately 645 million people, faced hunger. This marks a reduction from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022, indicating a sustained, albeit slow, downward trend. This represents a reduction of nearly 14 million people compared to the previous year and 43 million since 2022. However, this progress is overshadowed by the persistent and widening disparities across continents and the escalating cost of healthy diets, which are pushing nutritious food further out of reach for billions.
Uneven Recovery and Persistent Regional Disparities
While the global trend is positive, the recovery from food insecurity is far from uniform. Asia and the Latin America and Caribbean regions have demonstrated consistent improvements in recent years. In stark contrast, Africa now bears the heaviest burden, with approximately 309 million individuals experiencing hunger. This figure surpasses the 292 million recorded in Asia. Although the previously escalating trend in Africa shows signs of stabilization, with the proportion of its population facing hunger decreasing from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20.0 percent in 2025, the continent now accounts for the largest absolute number of hungry people, a situation exacerbated by a rapidly growing population.
The broader picture of food access, measured by food insecurity, reinforces these regional divides. In 2025, an estimated 25.8 percent of the global population, translating to around 2.1 billion people, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. This means they were compelled at times to compromise on the quality or quantity of food they consumed. While this represents an improvement from 27.1 percent in 2024 and 28.7 percent in 2020, signifying nearly 86 million fewer people facing such challenges compared to 2024 and 135 million fewer than in 2020, the levels remain higher than pre-pandemic benchmarks.
The regional disparities in food insecurity are particularly stark. Over half of Africa’s population (56.6 percent) grappled with moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025. This contrasts sharply with 20.3 percent in Asia, 22.9 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and a comparatively low 8.7 percent in Northern America and Europe. Further analysis reveals that food insecurity continues to disproportionately affect rural populations compared to those in peri-urban and urban settings. While the gender gap in food insecurity narrowed slightly in 2025, women remain more vulnerable to its impacts.
The Shadow of Conflict and Climate Extremes on Hunger Projections
The SOFI 2026 report also delves into future hunger projections, offering a somber outlook for the next five years, particularly in light of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. The report estimates that depending on the duration and impact of the crisis on food inflation – driven by soaring energy and fertilizer prices – between 510 and 520 million people may still be facing hunger in 2030. This projection is higher than the pre-conflict scenario estimate of 503 million. While the global number of undernourished people is projected to decrease by 20 percent overall by 2030, the Middle East conflict poses a significant risk to this trajectory.
Moreover, these projections do not account for other potential disruptors, such as the anticipated weather extremes like El Niño in 2026 and 2027. Such events could further compound the challenges, potentially reversing the hard-won gains in food security. The joint authors of the report issue a stern warning: the conflict in the Middle East, coupled with the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and a reduction in official development assistance and humanitarian funding, threatens to undermine the global efforts to eradicate hunger.
Stagnating Nutrition Targets and the Double Burden of Malnutrition
Beyond the headline figures on hunger, the SOFI 2026 report underscores the insufficient progress made on global nutrition targets, including those set for 2030. Indicators for maternal and child nutrition, such as child stunting, wasting, overweight, low birth weight, and exclusive breastfeeding, show only marginal improvements. The pace of progress is deemed too slow to achieve international commitments.
Alarmingly, the prevalence of anaemia among women aged 15 to 49 years is worsening. Simultaneously, adult obesity continues its steady ascent, rising from 12.1 percent in 2012 to 16.2 percent in 2024. This trend runs counter to the target of halting its rise by 2025. The report also highlights that a mere 30.8 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months globally consume a minimally diverse diet, and a staggering 150 million children under five years of age remain stunted. This situation represents a critical failure to address the complex challenge of malnutrition in all its forms, often referred to as the double burden of malnutrition.
Regional variations persist in nutrition outcomes. While the prevalence of child stunting is declining in Africa and is on track to meet the 2030 target in Asia, exclusive breastfeeding rates are showing improvement across regions where data is available. However, nearly all regions are experiencing widening gaps in addressing anaemia among women, and child overweight is rapidly increasing in Oceania.
The Escalating Cost of a Healthy Diet: A Barrier to SDG 2
This year’s SOFI report places a significant emphasis on the cost of a healthy diet – defined as the average minimum expenditure required to acquire locally available foods that meet energy and most nutrient requirements. According to FAO and WHO guidelines, a healthy diet must be adequate, balanced, diverse, and moderate. The report unequivocally states that the high cost of such diets remains a primary obstacle to achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). However, it also cautions that reducing these costs alone will not be sufficient to guarantee improved dietary quality and nutrition outcomes.
In 2025, the average global cost of a healthy diet escalated to 4.28 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars per person per day. This represents a substantial increase from 3.44 PPP dollars in 2021 and 2.94 PPP dollars in 2017. The highest costs were recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean, averaging 4.91 PPP dollars per day. Concurrently, the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet has declined from 2.97 billion (37.4 percent of the global population) in 2021 to 2.69 billion (32.7 percent) in 2025.
However, this global decline masks significant regional disparities. In Africa, the affordability of healthy diets worsened considerably, with 66.6 percent of the population unable to afford one in 2025 – more than double the levels observed in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. This indicates a deepening crisis for vulnerable populations on the continent.
The cost of healthy diets varies widely across regions due to fundamental differences in agrifood systems. Animal-source foods, fruits, and vegetables constitute the largest share of these costs, while starchy staples contribute relatively little. Animal-source foods are the primary driver of healthy diet costs in Africa, whereas vegetables represent the largest expense in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Food Value Chains and the Imperative for Policy Reform
The report identifies food value chains as a critical determinant of food prices. Post-farmgate activities account for a substantial 70 to 75 percent of what consumers ultimately pay, with processing, logistics, and wholesale contributing up to 40 percent of total costs. Enhancing efficiency in these segments is therefore crucial, particularly for making perishable, nutrient-rich foods more accessible.
Addressing the affordability of healthy diets necessitates context-specific policy responses. These must focus on expanding the supply of nutritious foods while simultaneously reducing structural costs across agrifood value chains. Key interventions include increased investments in infrastructure, research and development, irrigation systems, and cold chain facilities. Reforms in subsidy regimes, trade facilitation measures, and regulatory frameworks are also essential.
Targeted interventions aimed at boosting productivity, minimizing food losses, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices can offer a multi-pronged solution. Such strategies can simultaneously improve nutrition outcomes, enhance resilience to shocks, and contribute to climate goals. The report’s overarching message is that while the task ahead is immense, striving for a world where a healthy diet is within reach for all is a worthy and achievable objective.
Voices from the Frontlines of Food Security
The leaders of the UN agencies involved in the report have articulated their concerns and called for urgent action.
QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), emphasized, "The report shows that progress is possible, but we must move faster. Ending hunger and making healthy diets affordable requires political commitment, sustained investment and enabling policies. Recent crises – from natural disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic to man-made disasters like hotspots of conflicts, the war in Ukraine, the Gaza crisis, and the recent Strait of Hormuz disruption – have demonstrated both the resilience of agrifood systems and the need to strengthen them further to better serve the world’s most vulnerable people, farmers and consumers."
Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), highlighted the economic implications: "SOFI tells us that the cost of a healthy diet continues to rise and that nearly 2.7 billion people may still be unable to afford a healthy diet. Resilient value chains must be a central part of the answer. Our task now is to turn the evidence SOFI provides into investment – and to do so through partnership. Together, we can build the value chains, market systems and rural economies that make healthy food affordable for all."
Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), focused on the impact on children: "Every child deserves the chance to grow and develop to their full potential, and this starts with access to nutritious, affordable food. This report is a stark reminder that food systems fail millions of children and families. Food, health, education and social protection must go hand in hand to protect the most vulnerable children and women from global shocks."
Carl Skau, Acting Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), underscored the human cost: "Behind every number in this report is a family counting the cost of food. Conflict and climate shocks push them further beyond their means. We must continue working with partner agencies, governments and communities to build food systems that hold up under shock, so families can afford nutritious diets, even in times of crisis. We now need sustained investment to match the scale of the challenge."
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), stated, "While we welcome the clear progress we have made in reducing hunger, a healthy diet still remains unaffordable for one in three people globally. Obesity is rising and progress on maternal and child nutrition is stalling. But we know what works: policies that make healthy food the easy choice, promoting breastfeeding, front-of-pack labelling, taxing unhealthy products, and protecting children from harmful marketing. Healthy diets are not a luxury – they are the foundation of health and must be within everyone’s reach."
The SOFI 2026 report serves as a critical call to action. While progress is being made, the confluence of geopolitical instability, climate change, and economic pressures is creating a volatile environment that threatens to reverse decades of hard-won gains. The path to achieving Zero Hunger by 2030 demands intensified political will, strategic investments, and a renewed commitment to equitable and sustainable food systems that prioritize the health and well-being of all.
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