UN Report Reveals Uneven Progress in Global Hunger and Food Insecurity

According to the most recent State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and cooperating agencies, global hunger has modestly decreased after peaking during the pandemic at a 15-year high. With noticeable regional variations in progress, food insecurity still affects almost 2.3 billion people worldwide. 

Global hunger dropped steadily between 2005 and 2016. The COVID-19 epidemic changed the pattern in 2020 and 2021 by upsetting food systems and national economies. As of 2024, the UN calculates that about 7.8% to 8.8% of the world population—638 million to 720 million people—face hunger. With a slight increase of 15 million over the preceding year, the most probable number is 673 million. 

This change is not uniformly spread out. While rates kept rising in some areas of Africa and Western Asia, South-West Asia, Southern Asia, and Latin America saw decrease in hunger. According to the report, hunger persists in conflict-torn regions including Gaza, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen, and Haiti. Limited access can cause these circumstances to be underrepresented in current data. 

According to the study, nearly 2.3 billion people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2024683 million more than in 2015, when the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were released. Projections show that around 512 million people could still be persistently hungry by 2030, with 60% of the underfed people living in Africa. Attaining the aim of zero hunger by 2030 seems more and more difficult. 

Another angle of the study is the expense of keeping a nutritious diet, described as one including many of regionally accessible foods fulfilling fundamental nutrient demands. From 3.30 PPP dollars per person per day in 2019, the cost of such a diet climbed to 4.46 PPP dollars in 2024. Still, from 2.9 billion in 2020 to 2.6 billion in 2024, the number of individuals unable to afford a nutritious diet has fallen. Post-pandemic economic recovery in many countries—where income growth surpassed increasing food prices—contributes to this fall. 

Still, especially in poor countries, affordability is still a difficulty. In Africa, the unaffordability of nutritious food rose; in 2024, two-thirds of the people could not get access. Conversely, Asia showed spectacular gains; the share of individuals unable to afford a nutritious diet dropped from 35% in 2019 to 28% in 2024. Affordability also improved in high- and upper-middle-income nations. In poor countries, however, rising food prices and stagnated economic development made the affordability problem worse. 

Over the last five years, food price inflation has greatly surpassed overall inflation, according to the report. From 2.3% in December 2020, global food price inflation reached its highest level of 13.6% in January 2023. Low-income countries were most struck; some had inflation rates over 350%. Local markets, which are quite sensitive to price shocks, are more depended on in these areas. 

This inflation resulted from several worldwide events. Demand-side inflation was started by the COVID-19 epidemic; supply-side shocks were caused by the conflict in Ukraine via interruption of energy and fertilizer exports. Prolonged food price pressures have resulted from the combined influence, therefore undermining family coping mechanisms and aggravating food poverty. With women especially impacted, a 10% increase in food costs is related to a 3.5% rise in moderate or severe food insecurity.

The report also emphasizes how food prices have risen as a result of energy costs. From fertiliser production to transportation, oil and gas are vital for agricultural output. Global food inflation was greatly influenced by two waves of price shocks: early in the early epidemic and subsequently following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The first wave contributed about 15 percentage points to food inflation; the Ukraine war added 18 percentage points. Particularly hard hit were nations relying on agricultural imports and fossil fuel-based fertilisers. 

Prices for fertilizers have stayed high starting in 2021. Sanctions on Russia and Belarus, significant exporters of urea and potash, followed the war in Ukraine. Though some penalties exempt fertilisers, banking and trade limits continued to break supply networks. Export limits from China were already driving up costs before the conflict. 

Particularly phosphate fertilisers experienced great price swings, mirroring comparable events in 1974 and 2008. Geopolitical conflicts, energy prices, and supply and demand imbalances drove the present rise. Because fertiliser manufacture is focused in a small number of countries, including China, India, Russia, Morocco, and the United States, any trade barriers from these countries greatly affect world supply and prices. 

According to the study, high market concentration—not only in fertilizers but also in other agricultural products—is a structural problem impacting rich as well as impoverished nations. It lowers efficiency and limits affordability, therefore weakening world initiatives to address food insecurity. 

Though there have been recent developments, the worldwide food security condition is still precarious and defined by injustice. Millions of people still cannot get healthy food because of growing prices, financial shocks, and geopolitical conflicts. To stabilize food systems and tackle the underlying causes of growing hunger calls for urgent, concerted action. 

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This story was published with permission from Carbon Brief and is based on the report UN State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025.