UN Reports Acute Food Insecurity and Malnutrition Rise for the 6th Consecutive Year

In 2024, over 295 million individuals in 53 countries and territories experienced acute levels of hunger, according to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) released by the United Nations. The report presents that conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes, and forced displacement continued to cause challenges in food security globally, with bigger impacts in several fragile regions.

One of the greatest challenges indicated in the report is the worsening prevalence of acute food insecurity, which was experienced by 22.6 percent of the population evaluated in 2024. This is the fifth consecutive year in which the figure reached over 20 percent. Furthermore, the number of people who experienced catastrophic hunger more than doubled over the same period to reach 1.9 million. This is the highest record since GRFC tracking.

Extremely high levels of malnutrition, especially in children, were reported in several areas, including the Gaza Strip, Mali, Sudan, and Yemen. Close to 38 million children less than five years old were acutely malnourished across 26 nutrition crises.

“This Global Report on Food Crises is another unflinching indictment of a world dangerously off course,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “Long-standing crises are now being compounded by another, more recent one: the dramatic reduction in lifesaving humanitarian funding to respond to these needs. This is more than a failure of systems – it is a failure of humanity. Hunger in the 21st century is indefensible. We cannot respond to empty stomachs with empty hands and turned backs.”

Read more about the report.