Africa recorded the world’s largest number of hungry people in 2025, even as global hunger declined for a third consecutive year, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026) report. The report estimated that 645 million people faced hunger worldwide in 2025, equal to 7.8% of the global population.

The report was produced jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It found that global hunger fell from 8.6% in 2022 to 8.1% in 2024 and 7.8% in 2025. The number of people facing hunger fell by 43 million over three years. Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean recorded steady improvements.

Africa was the exception. The share of its population facing hunger fell slightly, from 20.3% in 2024 to 20% in 2025. But the population grew faster than the rate declined, so the total number of hungry people rose, from 307 million in 2024 to 309 million in 2025. That was enough for Africa to overtake Asia’s 292 million, recording more hungry people than any other region for the first time.

Some of the world’s most severe cases were also in Africa. Conflict has driven much of that severity. The World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization and UNICEF warned in May 2026 that the war in Sudan alone had pushed 19.5 million people into acute food insecurity. Among those, 637,200 people faced catastrophic hunger (Note-1) – about 1% of its population. South Sudan recorded 83,500 people facing the same level of hunger.

Outside Africa, Gaza recorded the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger of any single territory, at 640,700 people, or 32% of its population. The report linked that figure to the Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and to restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid. Community kitchens that had provided free meals to thousands of people had also closed, removing a source of food for many families.

The report warned that future hunger levels could be affected by the broader series of wars in the Middle East conflict, which have resulted in higher energy and fertiliser prices. Meanwhile, the amount of funding being provided for food aid internationally is falling.

Depending on how long these effects last, 503 million to 520 million people could still face hunger in 2030, with about 56% of them in Africa. The report said these projections do not include possible weather shocks such as El Niño in 2026 and 2027, which could add further pressure. Even the lower projection would leave the world far from the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of ending hunger by 2030.

Note-1: Catastrophic hunger is the most severe stage on the five-level Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale, used globally to measure food crises. These figures come from a separate assessment, the Global Report on Food Crises 2026, produced by the FAO and the World Food Programme.

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Farmers display the Uyole 03 bean variety in Tanzania. (Photo: Georgina Smith / CIAT / Flickr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)