World Hunger Fell Again in 2025, but Child Nutrition Still Lags
Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, but a new United Nations report shows why the improvement is not yet a victory for children and families. Hunger affected about 645 million people worldwide, while healthy diets remained unaffordable for roughly 2.69 billion people.
The findings come from the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026, released July 21 by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization. The joint agencies say progress remains fragile, uneven and insufficient to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
What changed in 2025
The report estimates that 7.8% of the global population faced hunger in 2025, down from 8.1% in 2024. The decline marks a third consecutive year of improvement, but the remaining total is still measured in hundreds of millions of people.
A broader measure also improved. About 2.1 billion people, or 25.8% of the world’s population, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025. That means they did not reliably have access to adequate food and, at times, had to compromise on the quality or quantity of what they ate.
The figure remains above pre-pandemic levels, and the agencies say the pace of progress is not fast enough to meet global targets.
Calories are not the same as a healthy diet
The report separates hunger from diet quality. A person may avoid chronic hunger while still lacking regular access to foods that provide enough protein, vitamins and other nutrients.
The average global cost of a healthy diet rose to 4.28 purchasing-power-parity dollars per person per day in 2025. That is a comparison measure used by the report, not a direct estimate of what a family would pay at a U.S. grocery store.
About 2.69 billion people could not afford a healthy diet. The affordability gap was especially severe in Africa, where 66.6% of the population could not afford one. The cost reflects how food is produced, processed, transported, stored and sold, with fruits, vegetables and animal-source foods often costing more than staple foods.
Young children remain especially exposed
Only 30.8% of children ages 6 to 23 months worldwide consumed a minimally diverse diet, according to UNICEF’s summary of the report. Approximately 150 million children under age 5 remained stunted.
These indicators measure different problems. Hunger tracks insufficient food energy. Food insecurity captures unreliable access to adequate food. Diet diversity looks at whether young children receive enough types of food for healthy growth, while stunting reflects the effects of chronic undernutrition over time.
The report says progress on maternal and child nutrition remains too slow to meet international commitments. For families, the risks often compound: food shortages can coincide with limited health care, unsafe water, disrupted schooling, lost income and reduced social protection.
Africa carries the largest burden
Africa had about 309 million hungry people in 2025, more than any other region. Although the share of its population facing hunger edged down from 20.3% in 2024 to 20.0% in 2025, rapid population growth means the absolute number remains very high.
More than half of Africa’s population, 56.6%, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. The continent also had the largest healthy-diet affordability gap, with 66.6% of its population unable to afford one.
Why progress can reverse quickly
The agencies and independent reporting point to interacting pressures rather than one cause. Conflict can disrupt farms, markets, shipping and humanitarian access. Higher energy and fertilizer costs can raise production and transport expenses. Climate extremes can damage crops and rural livelihoods, while reduced humanitarian funding can leave families without food, health or nutrition services.
The report’s 2030 projections are forecasts, not observed outcomes, and do not include every possible future weather shock. Depending on how long conflict-related food inflation lasts, the agencies project that about 510 million to 520 million people could still face hunger in 2030, compared with a lower pre-conflict projection of 503 million.
Gaza shows how fragile gains can be
Gaza provides a concrete example of both improvement and continuing danger. UNICEF, FAO and WFP said expanded humanitarian assistance and commercial activity improved food-security and child-nutrition indicators after late 2025.
Even so, an estimated 1.4 million people, or 67% of Gaza’s population, were still experiencing crisis or worse acute food insecurity, classified as IPC Phase 3 or above. About 212,000 people remained in Emergency conditions, or IPC Phase 4. Food rations remained insufficient in quantity, quality and dietary diversity, while commercial supplies of fresh produce and protein were inconsistent.
The agencies said the gains could reverse without sustained aid, funding, access, health services, safe water, sanitation and investment in livelihoods. That warning captures the central lesson of the global report: reducing hunger requires more than getting calories into households. It requires making nutritious food affordable and keeping essential services functioning when families face conflict, disasters or economic shocks.
What to watch through 2030
The practical test is whether governments and donors can reduce the structural cost of healthy food while protecting services for mothers and children during crises. The agencies point to investments in infrastructure, irrigation, storage, cold chains, food-system efficiency, social protection and nutrition services, alongside reliable humanitarian access and support for livelihoods.
For families, the headline improvement matters—but so does what it leaves out. A world with fewer people facing hunger can still have millions of young children eating diets too limited for healthy growth. The next measure of progress will be whether nutritious food becomes affordable and whether gains survive the next conflict, climate shock or funding disruption.
Sources
- UNICEF: Global hunger levels ease for third consecutive year
- FAO: The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026
- Associated Press: Conflicts and energy shocks threaten progress against global hunger
Look for updates to this story
Discover more from Interactive News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.