MANY MINDEDGlobal hunger falls for a third straight year, UN report finds
Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, issued by five United Nations agencies. An estimated 7.8 percent of the global population, roughly 645 million people, faced hunger during the year.
That figure is down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022. In absolute terms the decline equals nearly 14 million fewer hungry people than in 2024, and 43 million fewer than in 2022. The trend points in a steady direction across several years rather than a single lucky season.
Fewer hungry people is the most direct measure of progress on sustenance there is. When the share of the world going without adequate food shrinks year over year, it reflects food becoming more reliably available to those who had the least access to it. This is the core of what abundance in food would mean at a global scale.
Still, the report carries clear caveats. The numbers are estimates, and the UN warns that gains remain fragile and too slow to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. A three-year decline is real, but the pace would need to accelerate to close the remaining gap. Watch whether the trend holds through 2026 and whether the most vulnerable regions share in it.
Source: HumanProgress