Impact

The PoU offers countries a measure to track progress made in stamping out hunger in a way consistent with the past. Together with indicator 2.1.2, this is ideal for evidence-based policymaking to ensure no one and no area is left behind and to bring the global hunger figure down to zero.

Undernourishment means that a person is not able to acquire enough food to meet the daily minimum dietary energy requirements, over a period of one year. FAO defines hunger as being synonymous with chronic undernourishment.

Key results

Updated global estimates point to some progress in decreasing world hunger in recent years. 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 million and 720 million people faced hunger in 2024.

The differences among the regions of the world are stark. The estimated proportion of the population facing hunger in 2024 in Oceania excluding Australia and New Zealand and in sub-Saharan Africa (23.6 and 22.3 percent, respectively) was approximately twice that of Western Asia and Northern Africa (11.8 percent) and Central Asia and Southern Asia (10.7 percent) and more than four times the percentage in Latin American and the Caribbean (5.1 percent).

The regional trends also differ. The progress seen at the global level is driven by notable improvement in two regions: Central and Southern Asia, which mainly reflects evidence based on new government data from India; and Latin America and the Caribbean, reflecting significant improvement in South America.

Unfortunately, these positive trends contrast with the steady rise in hunger in Western Asia and Northern Africa, where the number of people facing hunger has nearly doubled since 2015.

Highlights

Elearning

Multimedia

Capacity development

Methodology

Tier: I

Data

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