The 2026 report 'The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World' shows that global food security governance is yielding initial results, yet achieving the 'Zero Hunger' goal remains difficult. In 2025, about 645 million people were in a state of hunger, and nearly one-third of the population could not afford a healthy diet.
Recently, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and several other UN agencies jointly released the 2026 'State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World' report in Rome, Italy. The report shows that the number of hungry people globally fell for the third consecutive year in 2025, but the momentum of improvement remains fragile and development is uneven across regions, leaving the 'Zero Hunger' goal of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development facing severe challenges. As the average cost of a healthy diet rises globally, nearly one-third of the world's population still cannot afford one, and how to move from 'having enough to eat' to 'eating well' has become a new issue in global food security governance.
Multiple data points in the report confirm phased positive progress in global hunger governance: in 2025, about 645 million people globally were hungry, about 7.8% of the total population, marking three consecutive years of decline from 8.1% in 2024 and 8.6% in 2022. In absolute terms, the number of hungry people in 2025 fell by nearly 14 million from 2024 and by a cumulative 43 million from 2022; over the same period, about 2.1 billion people-25.8% of the global population-were in a state of moderate or severe food insecurity, a decrease of about 86 million from 2024 and 135 million from the 2020 peak. The clear overall downward trend in both indicators marks a return to the track of improvement in global food security, the combined result of countries stabilizing agricultural production, improving social protection, and advancing poverty reduction governance.
The improvement in global food security is uneven, and the development gap between the global North and South continues to widen. Progress in eradicating hunger is steady in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. In Asia, the share of hungry people fell to 6.0%, with moderate or severe food insecurity at 20.3%; in Latin America and the Caribbean, the hunger share is 4.8% and food insecurity is 22.9%; in North America and Europe, food insecurity is below 10%.
Africa has for the first time surpassed Asia as the region with the largest number of hungry people, totaling about 309 million-exceeding Asia's 292 million. Although Africa's hunger rate edged down slightly from 20.3% in 2024 to 20.0%, halting a multi-year upward trend and achieving initial stabilization, the proportion of its population in moderate or severe food insecurity reached 56.6% due to factors such as rapid population growth. The gap between Africa and other regions has further widened, making it a key battleground for achieving the UN 2030 'Zero Hunger' goal.
This year's report makes the affordability of healthy diets a key issue, expanding the nutritional dimension of food security governance. According to definitions by the FAO and WHO, a healthy diet must satisfy the principles of 'adequacy, balance, diversity, and moderation,' covering six major categories: staple starches, animal-source foods, legumes and nuts, fats and oils, and fruits and vegetables. Using a baseline intake of 2,330 kcal per day, the report estimates the minimum daily expenditure for residents of each country to purchase a healthy diet combination that meets minimum nutritional needs. Data show that the global average cost of a healthy diet rose from $2.94 in 2017 to $4.28 in 2025, above the international extreme poverty line of $3.
Regional divergence is also pronounced: Latin America and the Caribbean have the highest cost at $4.9; Africa and Asia are $4.35 and $4.33 respectively; North America and Europe are lowest at $3.64. Globally, 2.69 billion people-nearly one-third of the population-still cannot afford a healthy diet. Although this figure has fallen from the 2020 peak of 3.13 billion, the regional divide remains stark-in 2025, 66.6% of Africa's population could not afford a healthy diet, more than double the rate in Asia and Latin America, and the trend is still worsening. In regions with inadequate infrastructure, weak cold chains, and unstable energy supplies, the prices of fruits, vegetables, and animal-source foods are persistently pushed up.
The report also discloses that globally only 30.8% of infants aged 6-23 months meet the minimum dietary diversity standard; the anemia rate among women of reproductive age (15-49) rose from 27.6% in 2012 to 30.7% in 2023; the adult obesity rate reached a record high of 16.2% in 2024; and about 150 million children under five remain stunted. According to estimates, the hidden costs of unhealthy diets-such as disease burdens-amount to as much as $8.1 trillion per year.
In response to the above issues, the report proposes differentiated governance solutions: at the global level, the agricultural support structure needs to be optimized-currently about 70% of support goes to crops such as grains and sugar, while nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, and legumes are under-supported, and the allocation of agricultural resources urgently needs adjustment; at the same time, costs across all links of the value chain must be compressed and the supply of nutritious food expanded. On a region-specific basis, the report recommends that Africa focus on shoring up cold-chain shortfalls and improving animal-source food supply, Asia strengthen production-sales linkages and enhance post-harvest handling of fruits and vegetables, and Latin America upgrade logistics facilities and reduce transport costs.
Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, said the current food system still cannot adequately guarantee the nutritional needs of children and families, and the international community must increase investment. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized that a healthy diet is the cornerstone of public health and must be accessible to all.
