July 23, 2026 | Ecosphere News
Global hunger declined for the third consecutive year in 2025, marking a positive step in the fight against food insecurity. However, the United Nations has cautioned that climate change, geopolitical tensions, and disruptions to global trade continue to pose serious threats that could undermine these hard-earned gains.
According to the 2026 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report, jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 645 million people, representing 7.8% of the global population, experienced hunger in 2025. This marks a decline from 659 million people (8.1%) in 2024 and 8.6% in 2022, reflecting steady but gradual global progress.
The report attributes much of the improvement to significant progress in Asia, particularly India, where expanded social protection programmes, targeted welfare initiatives, and improved agricultural productivity have helped reduce hunger. Latin America and the Caribbean also continued to record encouraging improvements, while several African countries-including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Senegal, and Zambia-showed early signs of recovery.
Despite these positive developments, Africa remains the world's most food-insecure region, with approximately 309 million people-or one in every five Africans-still suffering from chronic undernourishment. The report also highlights that 2.69 billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet, with affordability challenges particularly severe across Africa due to weak infrastructure, limited cold-storage facilities, high transport costs, and barriers to regional food trade.
UN experts warn that the outlook remains fragile. Escalating climate impacts, the possibility of a strong El Niño event, geopolitical conflicts, and disruptions to key trade routes such as the Strait of Hormuz could increase fuel, fertilizer, and transportation costs, placing additional pressure on global food production and prices. These risks threaten agricultural systems and could slow or even reverse recent progress in reducing hunger.
The report further notes that while chronic hunger is declining, other forms of malnutrition remain widespread. Child malnutrition continues to affect millions, anaemia among women is worsening in many regions, and adult obesity is increasing globally, underscoring the need for comprehensive nutrition policies alongside food security initiatives.
Although the United Nations projects that global hunger may continue to decline over the coming years, the world remains off track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) by 2030. The report emphasizes that stronger investments in climate-resilient agriculture, resilient food systems, social protection, nutrition, and international cooperation will be essential to ensure that recent gains are sustained and extended to the world's most vulnerable populations.
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