Africa Tops Global Hunger Rankings as Worldwide Malnutrition Declines for Third Consecutive Year

Africa has become the hub of the global food crisis, with the continent now accounting for the highest number of hungry people worldwide, according to a new United Nations report, which also notes that 1 in 5 Africans still goes hungry.

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Global hunger declined for the third consecutive year in 2025, with the percentage of the world's population experiencing hunger dropping to 7.8 per cent from 8.1 per cent in 2024, as revealed in the 2026 edition of "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI)" released on Tuesday by five UN agencies.

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The report shows that Africa is now home to about 309 million hungry people, surpassing Asia's 292 million, and more than half of the population in Africa faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025.

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Although the global number of hungry people fell by nearly 14 million compared to 2024 and by 43 million since 2022, the UN warned that progress remains fragile and far too slow to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030.

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The report, jointly produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UNICEF, World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), estimates that about 645 million people worldwide went hungry in 2025.

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Beyond hunger, the agencies said access to nutritious food remains a major global challenge, with an estimated 2.1 billion people experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025, while nearly 2.7 billion people, almost one in three globally, could not afford a healthy diet.

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In Africa, the situation is even more severe, with 66.6 per cent of the population unable to afford healthy food, highlighting the need for urgent action to address the issue.

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The report also warned that child and maternal nutrition indicators remain off track globally, with around 150 million children under five still stunted, while only 30.8 per cent of children aged six to 23 months receive a minimally diverse diet.

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Anaemia among women of reproductive age continues to worsen, and adult obesity has risen steadily from 12.1 per cent in 2012 to 16.2 per cent in 2024, according to the report.

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The agencies cautioned that conflict in the Middle East, extreme weather events, shrinking humanitarian funding and reductions in official development assistance could reverse recent gains and leave between 510 million and 520 million people hungry by 2030.

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FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu commented on the findings, saying that the world has demonstrated that progress is achievable but must act faster to address the issue.

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Qu Dongyu stated, "The report shows that progress is possible, but we must move faster, and ending hunger and making healthy diets affordable requires political commitment, sustained investment and enabling policies."

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WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that while hunger is declining, healthy diets remain unaffordable for millions, and obesity is rising, with progress on maternal and child nutrition stalling.

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Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "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, as healthy diets are not a luxury, they are the foundation of health and must be within everyone’s reach."

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UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell described the findings as a reminder that millions of children continue to suffer because food systems are failing vulnerable families, and stressed that nutrition, healthcare, education and social protection must work together to protect children and women from growing global shocks.

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The report called for greater investment in food systems, including improved infrastructure, irrigation, cold-chain facilities, research, trade reforms and policies that reduce the cost of nutritious foods while strengthening resilience to climate change and economic shocks.