Governments have been urged to accelerate investments in resilient food systems, expand access to nutritious foods, and implement policies that reduce food costs if the world is to meet its 2030 goal of ending hunger and malnutrition.
According to the 2026 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) UN report, released today, Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, demonstrating that progress is possible.
However, the improvements remain fragile, unevenly distributed and insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, with estimates showing that 645 million people, 7.8 percent of the global population, experienced hunger in 2025.
According to the report, while healthy diets remain out of reach for billions, affordability is gradually improving globally, and the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet declined from 2.97 billion in 2021 to 2.69 billion in 2025.
Africa recorded the worst affordability levels, with 66.6 percent of its population unable to afford a healthy diet, more than double the proportion in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.
WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the decline in global hunger but cautioned that healthy diets remain beyond the reach of one in three people worldwide.
He also warned that obesity is increasing while progress in maternal and child nutrition is slowing, calling for stronger policies that promote healthy eating, including breastfeeding, food labeling, taxation of unhealthy products, and restrictions on marketing to children.
FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said the report demonstrates that reducing hunger is possible but warned that faster action is needed through stronger political commitment, sustained investment, and supportive policies.
He noted that recent global crises, including conflicts and disruptions to trade, have exposed the need for more resilient agrifood systems to protect vulnerable populations.
IFAD President Alvaro Lario said the rising cost of healthy diets means nearly 2.7 billion people may still be unable to afford nutritious food, calling for greater investment in resilient value chains, market systems, and rural economies to make healthy diets more accessible.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said millions of children and families continue to be failed by food systems, stressing that access to nutritious food must be supported by health, education, and social protection services to shield vulnerable groups from global shocks.
WFP Acting Executive Director Carl Skau said conflict and climate-related shocks continue to drive food insecurity and make nutritious diets unaffordable for many families, urging for sustained investment in resilient food systems capable of withstanding future crises.
The SOFI report was released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO)
Beyond hunger, the report highlights persistent challenges in global nutrition, stating about 150 million children under five remain stunted, while only 30.8 percent of children aged six to 23 months are receiving a minimally diverse diet.
By Wangari Ndirangu
