TWN Info Service on UN Sustainable Development (Jul25/11)
30 July 2025
Third World Network

UN: 2.3 billion people facing food insecurity in 2024, says report
Published in SUNS #10272 dated 30 July 2025

Penang, 29 Jul (Kanaga Raja) — About 2.3 billion people in the world were moderately or severely food insecure in 2024, according to a new report by five specialized agencies of the United Nations.

According to “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025” report, this is still 335 million more than in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 683 million more compared to 2015, when the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was launched.

It said of the approximately 2.3 billion people in the world facing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2024, an estimated 828 million were severely food insecure.

The prevalence of severe food insecurity decreased marginally from 10.4 percent in 2023 to 10.1 percent in 2024, it added.

Trends at the regional level differ notably, with food insecurity on the rise in Africa, falling in Latin America and the Caribbean, and decreasing gradually in Asia for several consecutive years, while in Oceania and in Northern America and Europe, new estimates point to a slight decline from 2023 to 2024 following a several-year rise, the report said.

The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in Africa appears to have risen from 57.5 percent in 2023 to 58.9 percent in 2024 – an increase of nearly 41 million people in one year, it added.

It said an estimated 893 million people in Africa were moderately or severely food insecure in 2024; of these, 337 million were possibly facing food insecurity at severe levels.

The rise in food insecurity in Africa from 2023 to 2024 is due to the combined effect of marginal increases in all sub-regions of Africa, it suggested.

The report said that in 2024, moderate or severe food insecurity may have affected more than one-quarter of the population in Southern Africa, more than one-third in Northern Africa (although the estimates do not include an update for the Sudan), nearly two-thirds in Eastern and Western Africa, and more than three-quarters in Middle Africa.

“Food insecurity levels continued to decrease slightly in Asia, with estimates of the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity declining from 24.3 percent in 2023 to 23.3 percent in 2024, equivalent to a decrease of about 38 million people in one year.”

It is estimated that about 1.1 billion people in Asia were facing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2024; of these, 418 million (8.7 percent of the population of the region) may have been severely food insecure, it added.

“The region as a whole has been making gradual progress since 2020. All sub-regions of Asia showed signs of improvement from 2023 to 2024.”

Southern Asia and Western Asia had the highest estimated prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity (both around 38 percent) in 2024, although Southern Asia saw the largest decrease from 2023 to 2024 (nearly 2 percentage points). Eastern Asia revealed the lowest prevalence, estimated at 6.2 percent of the population.

The most improvement occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean, where steady progress has been made since 2021, said the report.

The number of people affected by moderate or severe food insecurity may have fallen by nearly 9 million in one year, from about 176 million to 167 million, with estimates dropping from 26.7 percent of the population in 2023 to 25.2 percent in 2024, driven mainly by progress in South America, it added.

The most recent trends in the estimates reveal that food security appears to be improving in all sub-regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, but most significantly in South America, where the estimated prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity was nearly 10 percentage points lower in 2024 than in 2021, a difference that is equivalent to a reduction of more than 40 million people experiencing food insecurity, said the report.

More than half the covered population of the Caribbean was estimated to be moderately or severely food insecure in 2024, compared to approximately one-quarter of the population in both Central America and South America.

The report said the proportion of the total food-insecure population in the Caribbean that is facing food insecurity at severe levels is also larger – nearly half.

The report said that food insecurity improved marginally in Oceania. However, over 26 percent of the region’s population (about 12 million people) may still have faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2024, including 9.6 percent (4.4 million) who may have been severely food insecure.

This points to possible signs of a positive turnaround in the trend for the region, where food insecurity had been increasing since 2020, it suggested.

“There were also signs of a positive turnaround in Northern America and Europe, where a marginal improvement was seen from 2023 to 2024.”

It said current estimates point to slightly over 8 percent of the population (92 million people) being moderately or severely food insecure in 2024, and 1.5 percent (17.4 million people) possibly facing severe food insecurity.

“The situation is the result of different trends in the two regions, with the estimated prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity decreasing in Europe, from 7.5 percent in 2023 to 6.8 percent in 2024, but marginally increasing in Northern America, from 10.4 percent to 10.7 percent.”

Nearly half of the total number of moderately or severely food-insecure people in the world live in Asia, given its very large population, even though the prevalence of people who are food insecure is much higher in Africa, said the report.

It said that in Africa, Asia and Oceania, between 36 and 38 percent of the total number of food-insecure people are severely food insecure, compared to 31 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean and only 19 percent in Northern America and Europe.

The report also said that globally and in every region of the world except Northern America and Europe, people living in rural areas tend to be more food insecure than those living in urban areas, while the relative situation of peri-urban populations differs among the regions.

“About 32.0 percent of people living in rural areas in the world were moderately or severely food insecure in 2024, compared to about 28.6 percent in peri-urban areas and 23.9 percent in urban areas.”

It said focusing specifically on severe food insecurity only, a similar pattern emerges: around 11.5 percent of the rural population in the world is severely food insecure compared to 11.0 percent of the peri-urban population and 8.1 percent of the urban population.

“The pattern of decreasing food insecurity with increasing degree of urbanization is clear in Africa, where an estimated 62.8 percent of people living in rural areas were moderately or severely food insecure, compared to 58.6 percent in peri-urban areas and 55.7 percent in urban areas.”

Rural populations are notably more food insecure than urban populations in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean as well, but the relative situation of peri-urban populations differs from that in Africa, said the report.

It said in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, there is virtually no difference between rural and peri-urban populations for moderate or severe food insecurity, and for severe food insecurity, there are even signs of slightly higher levels in peri-urban areas.

The report said that the only region where there are indications that food insecurity may increase slightly with increasing urbanization is Northern America and Europe.

GENDER GAP

Persistent inequalities between men and women are also evident, with food insecurity still more prevalent among adult women than men in every region of the world, said the UN agencies.

The gender gap widened considerably at the global level in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably in 2021; it then grew smaller for two consecutive years. But new estimates point to a widening of the gap at the global level between 2023 and 2024, said the report.

It said during this period, the difference in the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity between women and men increased from 1.3 to 1.9 percentage points, and for severe food insecurity, from 0.6 to 0.8 percentage points.

“After these fluctuations over the past nine years, the gender gap in 2024 was about the same as it was in 2015, when the 2030 Agenda was launched.”

For moderate or severe food insecurity, the increase in the gender gap from 2023 to 2024 was driven mostly by Asia, where the difference in the prevalence between men and women grew from 1.0 to 1.9 percentage points, and by Northern America and Europe, where the gap increased from 1.2 to 1.6 percentage points, the report said.

For severe food insecurity, however, the increase is mostly due to Africa, where a worrisome increase was seen in the gender gap, from 0.7 percentage points in 2023 to 1.3 percentage points in 2024, it added.

“The gender gap in food insecurity changed little in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2023 and 2024.”

However, this remains the region with the largest differences in the prevalence of food insecurity between men and women in the world – 5.3 percentage points at moderate or severe level, and 1.3 percentage points at severe level, in 2024, the report concluded. +