UN Agencies Report 2.1 Billion People Faced Food Insecurity in 2025

ByDental Info

A new five-agency UN report finds modest global progress on hunger, but says affordability and regional disparities continue to block progress toward 2030 goals.

A five-agency United Nations report published July 21, 2026, says 2.1 billion people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025, even as global food security and nutrition improved modestly.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026, produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization, says hunger affected 7.8% of the world’s population last year.

The findings point to limited progress rather than a broad reversal of the global food crisis. Improvements were uneven across regions and insufficient to meet the world’s 2030 hunger and nutrition targets, according to the report.

Progress remains uneven

Africa showed the first signs of improvement since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, the report says. But the region continues to face a severe affordability problem: Two-thirds of people in Africa could not afford a healthy diet.

That measure is central to the report’s assessment of food security. A decline in hunger does not necessarily mean households can consistently obtain the varied and nutritious foods associated with a healthy diet. The report links the continuing burden to persistent disparities affecting women, young children and rural communities.

The global figures also distinguish between hunger and broader food insecurity. The report’s estimate of 2.1 billion people covers people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity, while the 7.8% figure refers specifically to the share of the world’s population affected by hunger. Those measures describe related but different dimensions of the food crisis.

At 249 pages, the report presents a worldwide assessment of hunger, food insecurity, nutrition and the affordability of diets. Its central message is that modest improvement in the global totals has not removed the barriers that keep healthy food out of reach for large parts of the population.

Food prices and global shocks

Food affordability is also shaped by the way food moves through international markets. The FAO has reported that food and agricultural trade rose fivefold since 2000, reaching about $2 trillion. That expansion can connect consumers and producers across borders, but it also leaves some countries exposed when trade routes, supplies or prices are disrupted.

The FAO says disruptions can produce persistent movements in food prices and create food-security risks, particularly in low-income countries that import more food than they export. For households already unable to afford a healthy diet, those shocks can make access to nutritious food even more difficult.

Why the figures matter

The report’s regional and demographic findings make affordability a policy issue as well as a measure of hunger. Governments and international institutions face the challenge of improving food systems while ensuring that households can pay for nutritious diets. The figures for Africa show why global averages can obscure serious regional gaps.

The report also places the 2025 results against a fixed timeline. Progress remains insufficient to meet the 2030 targets, meaning that the modest improvement recorded last year does not establish that the world is on course. The remaining gap is particularly significant for groups identified as facing persistent disparities, including women, young children and rural communities.

The new assessment therefore presents a mixed picture: Hunger affected a smaller share of the global population than the report’s broader food-insecurity measure, and overall conditions improved modestly in 2025. Yet billions still faced moderate or severe food insecurity, while the cost of a healthy diet remained prohibitive for two-thirds of people in Africa.

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