ROME, (Pakistan Point News - 22nd Jul, 2026) Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, but progress remained fragile, uneven and insufficient to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026) report.
Released on Tuesday by five United Nations specialised agencies, the report estimated that 7.8 percent of the world's population experienced hunger in 2025, down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022, signalling a sustained, albeit gradual, improvement.
An estimated 645 million people faced hunger in 2025, around 14 million fewer than in 2024 and 43 million fewer than in 2022.
Despite global progress, recovery remains uneven. Africa is now home to approximately 309 million hungry people, compared with 292 million in Asia.
Although Africa’s previously rising trend is beginning to stabilise, with the share of its population facing hunger decreasing from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20.0 percent in 2025, the continent now has the highest number of hungry people in absolute terms amid a rapidly growing population.
Broader measures of food access showed a similar trend. In 2025, an estimated 25.8 percent of the global population (around 2.1 billion people) experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, meaning they were at times forced to compromise on the quality or quantity of the food they ate.
That was down from 27.1 percent in 2024 and 28.7 percent in 2020, equivalent to nearly 86 million fewer people than in 2024 and 135 million fewer than in 2020, though still above pre-pandemic levels.
The report highlighted that global progress on maternal and child nutrition also remains insufficient to meet international commitments, including the 2030 nutrition targets.
Indicators such as child stunting, wasting, overweight, low birthweight and exclusive breastfeeding show only marginal improvements and progress is too slow to meet the targets.
At the same time, anaemia among women aged 15 to 49 years is worsening, while the prevalence of adult obesity showed a steady increase, from 12.1 percent in 2012 to 16.2 percent in 2024, contrary to the target of halting its rise by 2025.
Only 30.8 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months worldwide consume a minimally diverse diet and 150 million children under five years of age are still stunted.
