| The State Of Food Security And Nutrition In The World 2026 |
| Hunger: An estimated 645 million people faced hunger in 2025 – 7.8 percent of the global population, down from 8.1 percent in 2024. That is nearly 14 million fewer people than in 2024 and 43 million fewer than in 2022. |
Food security: About 2.1 billion people – 25.8 percent of the global population – were moderately or severely food insecure in 2025, nearly 86 million fewer than in 2024. |
| Dietary diversity – remains inadequate globally for both children and women: Only 30.8 percent of children aged 6–23 months consume a minimally diverse diet, a prevalence level largely unchanged over the past decade. Among women aged 15–49 years, 62.7 percent meet minimum dietary diversity. |
Stunting: The prevalence among children under five fell from 26.4 percent (180.4 million) in 2012 to 23.2 percent (150.2 million) in 2024 – but progress is insufficient to reach the 2030 target of 16.8 percent. |
| Wasting and overweight: Wasting declined from 7.4 percent in 2012 to 6.6 percent in 2024, short of the pace required to reach 5 percent by 2030. Childhood overweight rose slightly over the same period, from 5.3 to 5.5 percent, and is rising sharply in Oceania. |
Anaemia: The prevalence among women aged 15–49 years rose from 27.6 percent in 2012 to 30.7 percent in 2023 and is projected to reach 32.6 percent by 2030 – moving further from the target of a 50 percent reduction. |
| The global cost of a healthy diet raised to 4.28 PPP dollars in 2025, up from 3.44 PPP dollars in 2021 and 2.94 PPP dollars in 2017.Animal source foods, fruits and vegetables account for nearly 70 percent of the total cost of a healthy diet, while starchy staples contribute only around one sixth despite providing half the calories. |
Reducing costs requires context-specific action: tackling high animal source food costs and cold chain deficits in Africa, improving transport and reducing vegetable costs in Latin America and the Caribbean, and strengthening post-harvest handling of fruits in Asia. |
| Post-farmgate activities – processing, logistics and wholesale – account for 70 to 75 percent of what consumers pay for food. Improving efficiency at these stages is essential for lowering the prices of the perishable foods that make up healthy diets. |
