World hunger is falling: but Africa overtakes Asia

Africa has finally overtaken the rest of the world. But there is nothing for the continent to celebrate. The new SOFI report on the state of global food security, published today by the FAO, shows that, although world hunger has fallen for the third consecutive year in 2025, the improvements remain fragile, unevenly distributed and insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. A goal that risks fading into the distance, weighed down by climate change, cuts to public resources and humanitarian funding, but above all by the explosive shockwave of the conflict in the Middle East.

It is estimated that in 2025, 7.8 per cent of the world’s population will have suffered from hunger, down from 8.1 per cent in 2024 and 8.6 per cent in 2022. Based on the specific estimate of 645 million in 2025, this represents a decrease of around 14 million people compared with 2024 and 43 million compared with 2022.

In terms of regional disparities, the report tells us that Asia, together with Latin America and the Caribbean, has made steady progress in recent years. By contrast, Africa now has the highest number of people suffering from hunger in absolute terms (against a backdrop of rapid population growth): 309 million people, compared with 292 million in Asia and 32 million in Latin America and the Caribbean (representing 20 per cent, 6 per cent and 4.8 per cent of the population respectively). However, the previous upward trend observed in Africa is beginning to stabilise (with the proportion of the population suffering from hunger falling from 20.3 per cent in 2024 to 20.0 per cent in 2025).

The annual report also provides updated projections on hunger for the next five years, in light of the conflict in the Middle East. Depending on how long the crisis continues to affect food inflation – exacerbated by rising energy and fertiliser prices – around 510–520 million people could still be suffering from hunger in 2030 (compared with the lowest projection of 503 million in the pre-conflict scenario), with an expected 20 per cent reduction in the global number of undernourished people. However, other potential disruptive factors, including the effects of extreme weather events such as El Niño in 2026 and 2027, are not factored into these projections and could further exacerbate their effects.

The authors of the report (FAO, UNICEF, IFAD, WFP, WHO) have issued a final warning: conflict in the Middle East, extreme weather events, cuts to public resources and humanitarian funding risk making the gap unbridgeable.