Defining hunger and food insecurity
The word “hunger” ranges in meaning from short-term physical discomfort caused by lack of food to life-threatening food deprivation, and encompasses broader issues related to food access, socioeconomic inequalities and human dignity.
For purposes of global monitoring, FAO operationalizes the concept of hunger by associating it with consumption of an insufficient amount of dietary energy to maintain a normal, active, healthy life.
But the concept of food security goes beyond access to dietary energy and the absence of hunger.
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
A person is food insecure when they lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life.
How many people are hungry?
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) is a flagship annual report presenting FAO’s global hunger estimates. According to the latest 2026 report, the world is facing an uneven recovery from recent global shocks.
- An estimated 645 million people (approximately 7.8 percent of the global population) may have faced hunger in 2025.
- In 2025, hunger affected 309 million people in Africa, 292 million in Asia and 32 million in Latin America and the Caribbean – 20.0, 6.0 and 4.8 percent of the population, respectively.
How many people are chronically food insecure?
- About 2.1 billion people in the world – 25.8 percent of the global population – are estimated to have been moderately or severely food insecure in 2025.
- In 2025, more than half the population of Africa (56.6 percent) was moderately or severely food insecure, compared to 20.3 percent in Asia, 22.9 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 8.7 percent in Northern America and Europe.
Learn more about global hunger and food insecurity statistics and trends
What causes hunger?
The underlying causes of hunger are poverty and inequality. Furthermore, hunger often occurs as the result of overlapping drivers that disrupt food systems.
FAO World Hunger and Food Insecurity Maps: Global hunger data and regional trends
The interactive FAO World Hunger and Food Insecurity Map presents the latest global estimates of hunger and food insecurity. Explore current trends across the world and get a clear view of today’s food security landscape.
How does FAO get these numbers?
Measuring hunger and food insecurity is essential for monitoring trends and guiding policy responses. FAO uses scientifically rigorous indicators to monitor global progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), including:
1. Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU)
This indicator measures the proportion of the population whose food consumption is insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements. It is the traditional way of tracking chronic hunger at a global and regional levels.
2. Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)
The FIES is a survey-based metric of the severity of food insecurity. It captures the severity of constraints on people’s access to food by asking them directly about the occurrence of conditions and behaviours like skipping meals or running out of food.