The number of hungry people worldwide is falling, according to the latest United Nations State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report. An estimated 645 million people faced hunger in 2025, 14 million fewer than in 2024 and 43 million fewer than in 2022.
The report, published Tuesday, estimates that 7.8 percent of the global population experienced hunger in 2025, down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022. This marks a third consecutive year of improvement after hunger surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, but levels remain above pre-pandemic 2019 figures.
Africa remains the world's hunger hotspot. In 2025, an estimated 309 million people in Africa were undernourished – one in five on the continent and nearly half of the world's hungry. By comparison, 292 million in Asia (6 percent) and 32 million in Latin America and the Caribbean (4.8 percent) experienced undernourishment.
Asia and Latin America have made steady progress in reducing hunger, while Africa's long-running rise appears to have stalled. The prevalence of hunger in Africa 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.
Looking ahead, the UN projects the global number of undernourished people will fall by about 20 percent by 2030, yet 510 to 520 million people are still expected to face hunger, with 56 percent living in Africa. The report warns that recent crises, including the 2026 US-Israel war on Iran, could undermine progress, particularly in Africa and Asia.
The number of people unable to afford a healthy diet fell from 2.97 billion in 2021 (37.4 percent) to 2.69 billion in 2025 (32.7 percent). However, the global cost of a healthy diet rose to $4.28 per day (purchasing power parity) in 2025, up from $3.44 in 2021 and $2.94 in 2017. Affordability remains a major challenge in Africa and Asia, with 1.03 billion Africans (nearly two-thirds of the population) unable to afford nutritious food.
A separate Global Report on Food Crises 2026 estimates about 1.4 million people worldwide face catastrophic hunger (Phase 5 on the IPC/CH scale). Gaza has the largest number, with 640,700 people (32 percent of its population), intensified by Israel's genocidal war and restrictions on aid. Sudan follows with 637,200 people in catastrophic hunger.
Source: www.aljazeera.com