266 Million People across 47 Countries Endured Acute Food Insecurity in 2025
35.5 Million Children were Acutely Malnourished in 2025
The world is facing a worsening hunger emergency. In 2025, famine was confirmed in both Gaza and Sudan. This is the first time two regions have reached this level simultaneously since formal famine reporting began.
The Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2026 highlights this troubling trend, showing rising levels of malnutrition and food insecurity across many fragile countries.
The report says that 266 million people in 47 countries faced severe food insecurity last year.
This is a slight increase from 2024 and almost twice as many as in 2016. Since 2020, more than 20 percent of people in these countries have faced acute hunger, showing that the crisis is not improving.
The Gaza Strip was hit hardest, with over 640,000 people, or 32 percent of its population, living in famine conditions. This is the highest share in the world.
Sudan was next, with 637,000 people affected. Smaller but severe hunger crises were also reported in South Sudan, Yemen, Haiti, and Mali.
Most of these hunger crises are caused by conflict and violence, which are behind more than half of all severe hunger cases and affect 147 million people.
Extreme weather and market problems have made things worse, forcing millions more into emergency hunger. Despite the growing need, humanitarian funding has dropped to levels not seen in almost ten years.
Children have been hit especially hard by this crisis. In 2025, the report estimates that 35.5 million children suffered from severe malnutrition, with nearly 10 million facing life-threatening cases.
It also found that over nine million pregnant and breastfeeding women were acutely malnourished in 21 countries.
Although the main number is a bit lower than in 2024, experts say this is because fewer countries were included in the report, not because things are getting better.
With famine risks still high in 2026 and conflict in the Middle East affecting food markets, the GRFC warns there could be a “generation of malnourished children” if urgent action is not taken.