Five United Nations agencies estimate that 645 million people went hungry in 2025, 14 million fewer than in 2024 and 43 million fewer than at the 2022 peak. In Africa, a rise that had run since 2017 has paused.
In 2022, 8.6 percent of the world's population went hungry. In 2025 the figure was 7.8 percent, and it fell in each of the years between. That is still an estimated 645 million people who could not eat enough to lead an active, healthy life, but it is 14 million fewer than in 2024 and 43 million fewer than at the 2022 peak. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, published on 21 July 2026 by the five United Nations agencies that compile it, records the third consecutive annual fall in global hunger.
How we know
The report is the annual joint assessment by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization. It counts hunger as undernourishment, the condition of consuming too little dietary energy to maintain a normal, active, healthy life, and sets that beside a second measure, food insecurity, which asks people directly whether they have skipped meals or run out of food. On that second measure 2.1 billion people, 25.8 percent of the world, were moderately or severely food insecure in 2025, 86 million fewer than a year earlier. The largest gains came in South America and in Asia, particularly Southern Asia.
Why it matters
Africa is where the direction changed. The share of its population facing hunger fell from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20.0 percent in 2025, the first interruption of the continent's upward hunger trend since 2017. About 309 million Africans are still undernourished, more than in any other region. Behind the hunger numbers sits the question this year's report sets out to answer: what it costs to eat well. The cost of a healthy diet, the price of the cheapest locally available foods that meet nutritional requirements, was 4.28 dollars a day per person in 2025, measured in purchasing power parity terms so that prices in different countries can be compared, up from 3.44 dollars in 2021, and 2.69 billion people cannot afford one. FAO's Director-General, Qu Dongyu, drew the conclusion the trend supports. Hunger is not inevitable, he said, and with strong economic policies, social protection and sustained investment in food systems "we can bend the hunger curve".
The gains are real but slow, uneven and short of the goal. Some 2.1 billion people still have to compromise at times on the quality or the quantity of what they eat, more than before the pandemic, and the report projects that around 520 million people could face hunger in 2030, which leaves the world off track for the UN pledge to end it. Africa's hunger rate fell by three tenths of a percentage point while its population kept growing, so FAO warns the absolute number of hungry Africans could still increase in the coming years. Hunger is also only one measure of the problem: nearly one in three people cannot afford a healthy diet, and the cost of one has climbed from 2.94 dollars a day in 2017 to 4.28 in 2025. The agencies call the progress fragile and vulnerable to conflict, weather extremes and cuts to development and humanitarian funding.
How is hunger measured?
The UN counts hunger as undernourishment: consuming too little dietary energy to maintain a normal, active, healthy life. FAO reports it as the share of a population in that condition, which makes it an estimate rather than a headcount of individuals. A second indicator, based on surveys that ask people whether they have skipped meals or run out of food, measures moderate or severe food insecurity.
Is the world on track to end hunger by 2030?
No. The report projects that around 520 million people could still be facing hunger in 2030, which puts the world off track for Sustainable Development Goal 2. FAO also cautions that the projection does not fully account for a strong El Niño event or for recent reductions in development and humanitarian financing, so the risk may be understated.
Why is Africa's hunger rate falling while its number of hungry people is not?
Africa's hunger prevalence fell from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20.0 percent in 2025, the first interruption of its upward trend since 2017. But about 309 million Africans still do not get enough food, more than in any other region, and FAO warns that rapid population growth means the absolute number could keep increasing even as the percentage falls.
What does a healthy diet cost?
The global average was the equivalent of 4.28 dollars per person per day in 2025, adjusted so that prices in different countries can be compared, up from 3.44 in 2021 and 2.94 in 2017. About 2.69 billion people, 32.7 percent of the world's population, could not afford one in 2025, down from 2.97 billion in 2021. In Africa the share who cannot afford a healthy diet was 66.6 percent.
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, SOFI 2026: Hunger not inevitable, FAO says as global hunger report shows progress Primary
- FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026
- World Health Organization, UN report: Global hunger levels ease for third consecutive year as regional disparities persist
- Al Jazeera, Hunger is falling but is still higher than pre-COVID levels: UN report
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