The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026: Progress Stalls Amidst Rising Costs and Persistent Inequalities

The global fight against hunger, while showing signs of progress, remains a precarious endeavor, according to the latest comprehensive report released by five United Nations specialized agencies. The "State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026" (SOFI 2026) paints a complex picture: hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, a testament to the possibility of global cooperation and targeted interventions. However, this progress is fragile, unevenly distributed, and critically insufficient to meet the ambitious Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of Zero Hunger by 2030.

Key Findings: A Glimmer of Hope, Overshadowed by Stark Realities

The SOFI 2026 report, a cornerstone publication by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO), reveals that an estimated 7.8 percent of the global population, approximately 645 million people, faced hunger in 2025. This represents a marginal but welcome decrease from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022. The reduction amounts to nearly 14 million fewer people affected by hunger compared to the previous year and a more substantial 43 million fewer than in 2022. This sustained, albeit slow, improvement offers a beacon of hope in the ongoing struggle.

However, the narrative of progress is far from uniform. While Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean have demonstrated steady improvements, Africa stands out as a region facing the most significant challenges. The continent is now home to an estimated 309 million hungry people, surpassing Asia’s 292 million. Although Africa’s previously escalating hunger trend shows signs of stabilization, with the proportion of its population experiencing hunger decreasing slightly from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20.0 percent in 2025, the sheer number of affected individuals is staggering, particularly in the context of a rapidly growing population. This stark regional disparity underscores the uneven nature of global food security gains.

Beyond outright hunger, the report delves into broader measures of food insecurity, revealing that an estimated 25.8 percent of the global population, or around 2.1 billion people, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025. This means these individuals were periodically forced to compromise on the quality or quantity of their food intake. While this figure represents a decline from 27.1 percent in 2024 and 28.7 percent in 2020, indicating nearly 86 million fewer people facing such insecurity than in 2024 and 135 million fewer than in 2020, it remains significantly above pre-pandemic levels. This persistent level of food insecurity highlights the lingering economic and social impacts of recent global crises.

Regional disparities in food insecurity are equally pronounced. In 2025, over half of Africa’s population (56.6 percent) grappled with moderate or severe food insecurity. This stands in stark contrast to Asia (20.3 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (22.9 percent), and Northern America and Europe (8.7 percent). The report also reiterates a persistent pattern: food insecurity is more prevalent in rural areas than in peri-urban and urban settings. Furthermore, women continue to bear a disproportionate burden of food insecurity, although the gender gap saw a slight narrowing in 2025.

The Shadow of Conflict and External Shocks on Future Projections

The SOFI 2026 report introduces a critical new dimension to its analysis: updated hunger projections for the next five years, specifically considering the impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. This geopolitical crisis, with its ripple effects on global energy and fertilizer prices, is projected to significantly influence food inflation. Depending on the duration and severity of these impacts, the number of people facing hunger in 2030 could remain high, potentially ranging between 510 to 520 million. This is a concerning upward revision from the pre-conflict scenario’s projection of 503 million. While the global number of undernourished people is still expected to decrease by approximately 20 percent by 2030, the conflict’s destabilizing influence threatens to derail this progress.

Furthermore, these projections do not account for other potential disruptors. The report explicitly warns that the effects of weather extremes, such as the anticipated El Niño events in 2026 and 2027, could further exacerbate the situation, compounding the negative impacts of conflict and economic instability.

The joint authors of the report issue a grave warning: the 2026 Middle East conflict, coupled with intensifying weather extremes and the concerning reduction in official development assistance and humanitarian funding, collectively pose a severe threat to the hard-won progress made in the global effort to end hunger. This multifaceted challenge demands a coordinated and robust international response.

Stalled Progress on Global Nutrition Targets: A Dual Burden of Malnutrition

Beyond the reduction of hunger, the SOFI 2026 report sheds light on the insufficient progress made towards achieving global nutrition targets, including those set for 2030. Indicators related to maternal and child nutrition, such as child stunting, wasting, overweight, low birthweight, and exclusive breastfeeding rates, are showing only marginal improvements. The pace of progress is alarmingly slow, falling short of the ambitious targets.

Adding to this concern is a worsening trend in anemia among women aged 15 to 49 years. Simultaneously, the prevalence of adult obesity continues its steady rise, increasing from 12.1 percent in 2012 to 16.2 percent in 2024. This trajectory directly contradicts the target of halting the rise in obesity by 2025. The report highlights that only 30.8 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months worldwide consume a minimally diverse diet, and a staggering 150 million children under the age of five are still affected by stunting. This "double burden of malnutrition" – where undernutrition and overweight/obesity coexist within populations and even within households – presents a complex public health challenge.

Regional variations in nutrition outcomes are also significant. While the prevalence of child stunting is declining in Africa and on track to meet the 2030 target in Asia, and exclusive breastfeeding rates are improving across most regions with available data, other areas are showing concerning trends. Nearly all regions are experiencing widening gaps in addressing anemia among women, and child overweight is increasing rapidly in Oceania. These diverging patterns underscore the need for context-specific interventions tailored to regional realities.

The Rising Cost of a Healthy Diet: A Barrier to Well-being

This year’s SOFI report places a significant emphasis on the escalating cost of a healthy diet, defined as the average minimum expenditure required to obtain locally available foods that meet energy and nutrient requirements. According to the FAO and WHO, a healthy diet is characterized by adequacy, balance, diversity, and moderation. The report underscores that the unaffordability of such diets remains a primary obstacle to achieving SDG 2, "Zero Hunger."

In 2025, the average global cost of a healthy diet rose to an estimated 4.28 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars per person per day. This represents a substantial increase from 3.44 PPP dollars in 2021 and 2.94 PPP dollars in 2017. Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the highest costs, at 4.91 PPP dollars per person per day. While the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet has declined from 2.97 billion (37.4 percent of the global population) in 2021 to 2.69 billion (32.7 percent) in 2025, this overall reduction masks severe regional disparities.

Africa, in particular, has seen a marked worsening of dietary affordability. In 2025, a staggering 66.6 percent of the African population was unable to afford a healthy diet, a figure more than double that observed in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. This indicates a critical affordability crisis on the continent, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities.

The report attributes these wide regional variations in healthy diet costs to structural differences in agrifood systems. The costliest components of a healthy diet are typically animal-source foods, fruits, and vegetables, while starchy staples contribute relatively little to the overall expense. In Africa, animal-source foods are the largest cost driver, whereas vegetables dominate the expenditure in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Addressing the Root Causes: Value Chains, Policy, and Investment

The SOFI 2026 report identifies food value chains as a major determinant of food prices. Post-farmgate activities, encompassing processing, logistics, and wholesale, account for a substantial 70 to 75 percent of what consumers ultimately pay, with up to 40 percent of total costs arising in these stages. Improving efficiency in these segments is therefore identified as critical, particularly for making perishable, nutrient-rich foods more accessible and affordable.

The report advocates for context-specific policy responses to reduce the cost of a healthy diet. These responses should focus on expanding the supply of nutritious foods while simultaneously lowering structural costs across agrifood value chains. Key recommendations include increased investments in infrastructure, research and development, irrigation systems, and cold chains. Reforms in subsidy policies, trade facilitation, and regulatory frameworks are also deemed essential.

Furthermore, the report emphasizes that targeted interventions aimed at boosting productivity, reducing food losses, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices can yield multiple benefits. These include improved nutrition outcomes, strengthened resilience to shocks, and progress towards climate goals.

Voices from the Frontlines: A Call for Accelerated Action

The leaders of the UN agencies behind the SOFI 2026 report have underscored the urgency of the situation and the need for intensified global efforts.

QU Dongyu, Director-General of the FAO, stated, "The report shows that progress is possible, but we must move faster. Ending hunger and making healthy diets affordable requires political commitment, sustained investment and enabling policies. Recent crises – from natural disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic to man-made disasters like hotspots of conflicts, the war in Ukraine, the Gaza crisis, and the recent Strait of Hormuz disruption – have demonstrated both the resilience of agrifood systems and the need to strengthen them further to better serve the world’s most vulnerable people, farmers and consumers."

Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD, highlighted the financial barriers: "SOFI tells us that the cost of a healthy diet continues to rise and that nearly 2.7 billion people may still be unable to afford a healthy diet. Resilient value chains must be a central part of the answer. Our task now is to turn the evidence SOFI provides into investment – and to do so through partnership. Together, we can build the value chains, market systems and rural economies that make healthy food affordable for all."

Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, emphasized the impact on children: "Every child deserves the chance to grow and develop to their full potential, and this starts with access to nutritious, affordable food. This report is a stark reminder that food systems fail millions of children and families. Food, health, education and social protection must go hand in hand to protect the most vulnerable children and women from global shocks."

Carl Skau, Acting Executive Director of WFP, drew attention to the human cost: "Behind every number in this report is a family counting the cost of food. Conflict and climate shocks push them further beyond their means. We must continue working with partner agencies, governments and communities to build food systems that hold up under shock, so families can afford nutritious diets, even in times of crisis. We now need sustained investment to match the scale of the challenge."

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, stressed the interconnectedness of nutrition and health: "While we welcome the clear progress we have made in reducing hunger, a healthy diet still remains unaffordable for one in three people globally. Obesity is rising and progress on maternal and child nutrition is stalling. But we know what works: policies that make healthy food the easy choice, promoting breastfeeding, front-of-pack labelling, taxing unhealthy products, and protecting children from harmful marketing. Healthy diets are not a luxury – they are the foundation of health and must be within everyone’s reach."

The SOFI 2026 report concludes with a somber yet resolute message: "The work that lies ahead over the years to 2030 is immense. However, a world in which a healthy diet is no longer out of reach for nearly one in three people is a world worth building." The path forward requires unwavering political will, substantial and sustained investment, and the implementation of effective, evidence-based policies that address the complex interplay of hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in an increasingly volatile world.