The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 645 million people faced hunger in 2025 and that about 2.7 billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet. Those are the headline figures of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026, whose theme is the high cost of a healthy diet. This article on global hunger in 2025 sets out the two figures printed on FAO’s page, explains how hunger and diet cost are measured and notes what we could not verify.
What does the report say?
FAO’s SOFI page states that an estimated 645 million people faced hunger in 2025 and that healthy diets are unaffordable for about 2.7 billion people worldwide. It adds that global hunger and food insecurity remain far above the targets set by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2026 edition is titled Understanding and addressing the high cost of a healthy diet. FAO’s page also links a press release and a special event held on July 14 at the High-Level Political Forum, an annual UN meeting on sustainable development. The page does not print a release date.
How is hunger measured?
In the SOFI series, hunger refers to the prevalence of undernourishment, an estimate of the share of a population whose habitual food intake is not enough to supply the energy needed for a normal, active life. That is a general description of the indicator and is not quoted from the page we used. The estimate is built from national food supply and consumption data, which means it is a modeled figure and not a head count. Our article on the Sustainable Development Goals report covers the wider framework in which the 2030 targets sit.
What does an unaffordable healthy diet mean?
A healthy diet in this context is a diet with enough variety of nutritious foods, priced and compared with income. A person is counted as unable to afford it when its cost exceeds a set share of household income, which is a general description of the method. The page gives the count of about 2.7 billion but not the cost per person per day or the regional split. We therefore leave out numbers that appear only in secondary summaries. Our article on the World Bank poverty line explains how income thresholds are set for poverty.
How do the two figures relate?
The two figures describe different problems. Hunger is about having too little food energy, while an unaffordable healthy diet is about not being able to buy a balanced mix of foods. The second number is therefore far larger. By our own arithmetic, 2.7 billion is about 4.2 times 645 million. Using a rough world population of 8.2 billion, a general figure not drawn from FAO’s page, 645 million would be about 8% of people and 2.7 billion about one third. Those shares are rough, and FAO’s own prevalence percentages should be preferred when available.
What do food prices have to do with it?
Food prices influence what people can afford, though the SOFI figures reflect incomes and local markets as well as world prices. Our article on the FAO Food Price Index for September 2026 covers the international commodity measure, which is a different indicator from the cost of a healthy diet. Readers should not treat a rise or fall in the commodity index as a direct change in either SOFI figure. Our entry on food insecurity and food banks describes how food insecurity is addressed at the community level.
How to read the numbers
Three reading rules apply. First, the numbers are estimates for 2025 and carry uncertainty. Second, the hunger figure counts people, while the healthy-diet figure counts people who cannot afford a particular diet, so they should not be added together. Third, a report on the high cost of a healthy diet is a statement about prices relative to incomes and not only about supply. FAO’s page frames the findings against the 2030 Agenda targets, which is why it says the situation remains far above them. These are general reading points and are not statements from FAO.
Related reading: Fonio: The Ancient West African Grain Gaining Global Attention.
Glossary
- Prevalence of undernourishment: the estimated share of people whose usual food intake is too low for an active life
- Healthy diet: a diet with enough variety and quality of foods
- Food insecurity: lack of reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food
- 2030 Agenda: the UN framework of Sustainable Development Goals set for 2030
- High-Level Political Forum: the UN body that reviews progress on the goals
These definitions are general explanations and are not quoted from FAO.
What is not covered here?
FAO’s page does not give the prevalence percentage, the regional breakdown, the cost of a healthy diet or the trend since 2022 in the text we used. Some secondary summaries give such numbers, but we did not use them because we could not check them against FAO’s report. The page’s technical metadata also looks inconsistent with its content, so readers should open the full report from FAO for the complete tables.
Key facts at a glance
- People facing hunger in 2025: an estimated 645 million
- People unable to afford a healthy diet: about 2.7 billion
- 2026 theme: the high cost of a healthy diet
- Benchmark: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Publisher: FAO, with partner UN agencies
Frequently asked questions
How many people faced hunger in 2025?
FAO estimates 645 million.
How many cannot afford a healthy diet?
About 2.7 billion people worldwide.
Is hunger measured by counting people?
No. It is an estimate modeled from food supply and consumption data.
Where are the regional figures?
In the full SOFI report, which we did not use for regional numbers.
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