“The latest assessment of world hunger, measured by the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) (SDG Indicator 2.1.1), reveals signs of improvement in recent years. The PoU had begun to rise slowly in 2017 and then increased sharply in 2020 and 2021 in the wake of the pandemic. However, the latest assessment points to encouraging progress from 2022 to 2024. An estimated 8.2 percent of the global population may have faced hunger in 2024, down from 8.5 percent in 2023 and 8.7 percent in 2022. It is estimated that between 638 and 720 million people (7.8 to 8.8 percent of the global population) faced hunger in 2024. Considering the point estimate (673 million), this indicates a decrease of 15 million compared to 2023 and of 22 million compared to 2022.

The progress seen at the global level is driven by notable improvement in South-eastern Asia, Southern Asia – which mainly reflects the impact of new data from India – and South America. The PoU in Asia decreased from 7.9 percent in 2022 to 6.7 percent (323 million people) in 2024. Progress was also made in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the latest estimates show the PoU decreasing to 5.1 percent in 2024 after peaking at 6.1 percent in 2020.

Unfortunately, this positive trend contrasts with the steady rise in hunger in most subregions of Africa and in Western Asia. The PoU in Africa surpassed 20 percent in 2024, and in Western Asia it rose to 12.7 percent.

According to the current projection, 512 million people in the world may be chronically undernourished in 2030, of whom nearly 60 percent will be in Africa, highlighting the immense challenge of achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger).”

From FAO.