Published by five specialized UN agencies and released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report reveals that roughly 8.2 percent of the global population—about 673 million people—suffered from hunger in 2024. This figure represents a measurable decline from previous years, falling from 8.7 percent in 2022 and 8.5 percent in 2023. Between 638 and 720 million people faced hunger last year, marking a decrease of approximately 15 million individuals compared to 2023 and 22 million from 2022.
Despite this global improvement, leadership from the reporting agencies emphasized that the path toward eradicating hunger remains uneven and fragile.
“While it is encouraging to see a decrease in the global hunger rate, we must recognize that progress is uneven,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu in a press release accompanying the report. “SOFI serves as a critical reminder that we need to intensify efforts to ensure that everyone has access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. To achieve this, we must work collaboratively and innovatively with governments, organizations, and communities to address the specific challenges faced by vulnerable populations, especially in regions where hunger remains persistent.”
Regionally, the data paints a picture of stark contrasts. In Asia, the number of undernourished people fell to 6.7 percent last year, down significantly from 7.9 percent two years prior. The Caribbean and Latin America also recorded encouraging improvements, with undernourishment dropping to 5.1 percent of the population—accounting for 34 million people—in 2024, following a notable peak of 6.1 percent in 2020.
However, these positive global trends stand in stark opposition to the reality unfolding in Africa and western Asia. The FAO noted that hunger has continued a steady upward trajectory in these regions, exacerbated heavily by prolonged food crises and regional conflicts. In Africa, the proportion of the population facing hunger surpassed 20 percent in 2024, directly impacting 307 million people. Meanwhile, in western Asia, an estimated 12.7 percent of the population—representing more than 39 million individuals—faced hunger over the same period.
Beyond severe hunger, broader measures of food insecurity also showed slight improvement globally. The percentage of people experiencing "moderate or severe food insecurity"—meaning they faced constraints on accessing adequate food for part of the year—decreased to 28 percent in 2024, or 2.3 billion people, down from 28.4 percent in 2023.
World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed to modest gains in early childhood health while urging continued vigilance. “In recent years, the world has made good progress in reducing stunting and supporting exclusive breastfeeding, but there is still much to be done to relieve millions of people from the burdens of food insecurity and malnutrition,” he said.
Looking ahead, the projections remain daunting. The report estimates that 512 million people could experience chronic undernourishment by the year 2030, with nearly 60 percent of those individuals residing in Africa. The FAO, alongside the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF, and the WHO, warned that these figures highlight the enormous scale of the challenge in meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger.
A significant driver of the ongoing crisis has been the lingering economic fallout of the global food price surge between 2021 and 2023. The SOFI report closely examined the causes and consequences of this inflation, which was fueled by a combination of policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the impacts of Russia’s war on Ukraine, and increasingly severe extreme weather events across the globe. These compounding factors severely hindered global recovery in nutrition and food security.
While wealthier nations have largely stabilized, low-income nations bore the brunt of these price shocks. The FAO reported that while median global food price inflation rose from 2.3 percent in December 2020 to 13.6 percent in early 2023, it escalated far more drastically in low-income countries, peaking at an unprecedented 30 percent in May 2023.
These soaring costs have directly affected the ability of families to purchase nutritious food. On a global scale, the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet fell to 2.6 billion last year, down from 2.76 billion in 2019. However, that encouraging global decline masks a worsening crisis in the world’s poorest regions.
In low-income countries, the number of people who could not afford a healthy diet rose to 544.7 million last year—representing 72 percent of the total population—up significantly from 464 million five years earlier. In lower-middle-income nations outside of India, that figure similarly climbed to 869 million, compared to 791 million over the same timeframe.
Reacting to the findings, IFAD President Alvaro Lario stressed the critical need for structural economic investments. “In times of rising food prices and disrupted global value chains, we must step up our investments in rural and agricultural transformation,” Lario said. “These investments are not only essential for ensuring food and nutrition security—they are also critical for global stability.”
To combat these systemic pressures, the report outlines several vital policy recommendations. These include implementing transparent and credible monetary policies designed to contain inflationary pressures, deploying time-bound and targeted fiscal measures such as social protection programs to shield vulnerable households, and making strategic investments in agrifood research and development. The report also highlights the necessity of improving market information systems to boost resilience and productivity, alongside modernizing transportation and production infrastructure.
The human cost of this ongoing nutritional crisis falls heaviest on the youngest populations. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell highlighted the profound, long-lasting impacts of malnutrition on early childhood development.
“Every child deserves the chance to grow and thrive. Yet over 190 million children under the age of 5 are affected by undernutrition, which can have negative consequences for their physical and mental development. This robs them of the chance to live to their fullest potential,” Russell said.
She emphasized that addressing the crisis requires deep, multi-sectoral cooperation. “We must work in collaboration with governments, the private sector and communities themselves to ensure that vulnerable families have access to food that is affordable and with adequate nutrition for children to develop. That includes strengthening social protection programs and teaching parents about locally produced nutritious food for children, including the importance of breastfeeding, which provides the best start to a baby’s life.”
