The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has reported a worsening global hunger crisis in 2024, with 295 million people suffering from acute food insecurity across 53 countries, a rise of 13.7 million from 2023. The findings, published in the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises, mark the sixth consecutive annual increase.
Conflicts remained the primary driver in many regions, with famine confirmed in Sudan and catastrophic hunger levels in Gaza, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali.
The report also warned of a looming famine in Gaza between May and September 2025. Forced displacement, economic shocks, and extreme weather further exacerbated the crisis. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu stressed that acute food insecurity is becoming a long-term reality, particularly in rural areas.
In 2024, more than 295 million people across 53 countries and territories experienced acute levels of hunger– an increase of 13.7 million from 2023. Of great concern is the worsening prevalence of acute food insecurity, which now stands at 22.6 per cent of the population assessed. This marks the fifth consecutive year in which this figure has remained above 20 per cent.
The number of people facing catastrophic hunger (IPC/CH Phase 5) more than doubled over the same period to reach 1.9 million – the highest on record since the GRFC began tracking in 2016.
Malnutrition, particularly among children, reached extremely high levels, including in the Gaza Strip, Mali, Sudan, and Yemen. Nearly 38 million children under five were acutely malnourished across 26 nutrition crises.
The report also highlights a sharp increase in hunger driven by forced displacement, with nearly 95 million forcibly displaced people—including internally displaced persons (IDPs), asylum seekers and refugees— living in countries facing food crises such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Sudan, and Syria, out of a global total of 128 million forcibly displaced people.