New Global Report warns funding cuts, conflict and malnutrition are undermining progress toward zero hunger.
HAMBURG — World leaders, policymakers and business executives gathering for the Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC 2026) are set to confront one of the world’s most urgent humanitarian challenges after a new global report revealed that more than 266 million people across 47 countries are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.
The findings, published in the Global Report on Food Crises 2026 (GRFC 2026), underscore the growing difficulty of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) as conflict, malnutrition and declining humanitarian funding continue to drive food crises around the world.
The conference, which opens on June 29 in Hamburg, Germany, comes with only a few years remaining before the international community’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals deadline.
RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE GOALS
More Than 266 Million People Face Acute Hunger
According to the GRFC 2026, approximately 266 million people—representing 22.9 per cent of the analysed population across 47 countries—experienced high levels of acute food insecurity during 2025.
The report, released on April 24, 2026, by the United Nations (UN), the European Union, Germany’s Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Government of Ireland, the Group of Seven Plus and governmental and non-governmental agencies working together to address food crises, found that the headline figure represents only a marginal increase compared with 2024.
However, the report cautions that the apparent stability is largely the result of fewer countries being assessed this year rather than any meaningful improvement in global food security.
Researchers noted that the proportion of people facing acute hunger has remained above 20 per cent since 2020 and has nearly doubled compared with 2016.
Child Malnutrition Remains a Growing Concern
The report found that nearly half of all food crisis contexts were also experiencing nutrition crises, reflecting the combined effects of inadequate diets, disease burdens and disruptions to essential public services.
During 2025 alone, an estimated 35.5 million children suffered from acute malnutrition.
Of those, nearly 10 million children were affected by severe acute malnutrition.
The report also highlighted that forced displacement continues to intensify food insecurity by disrupting livelihoods and limiting access to food and humanitarian assistance.
Conflict Overtakes Extreme Weather as Leading Driver of Hunger
For the first time in years, conflict and insecurity have become the primary drivers of acute food insecurity, surpassing extreme weather events.
According to the report, 19 countries where conflict was identified as the principal cause accounted for 147.4 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025.
That represents 56 per cent of the total affected population, up from 139.8 million people in 2024 and more than double the 73.9 million recorded in 2018.
In the foreword to the report, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said conflict continues to be the dominant cause of hunger for millions of people worldwide.
“Conflict remains the primary driver of acute food insecurity and malnutrition for millions around the world, with outright famine emerging in two conflict-affected areas in the same year — an unprecedented development,” Guterres said.
Last year marked the first time in the report’s history that famine was declared in more than one country during the same year, with declarations made in Gaza and parts of Sudan.
Extreme Weather Still Fuels Food Crises
Although conflict has become the leading driver, extreme weather continues to play a significant role in global hunger.
In 2025, 16 countries where weather extremes were identified as the primary driver accounted for 87.5 million people experiencing acute food insecurity, representing 33 per cent of the affected population.
This figure declined from the peak of 96.6 million people recorded in 2024.
For many years, droughts, floods and increasingly erratic weather patterns were considered the dominant causes of food crises.
The report noted that the shift toward conflict as the leading driver reflects the growing impact of prolonged wars and instability, particularly across parts of Africa and West Asia, where violence has disrupted food systems, destroyed livelihoods and restricted humanitarian access.
Funding Cuts Threaten Humanitarian Response
The report warns that declining financial support is making it increasingly difficult for governments and humanitarian organisations to respond effectively to worsening food crises.
Humanitarian and development financing for food-related sectors has fallen to levels last seen during 2016 and 2017, despite acute food insecurity remaining persistently high.
Researchers said the funding retreat is already reducing response capacity in many crisis-affected countries.
Declining Data Collection Raises New Concerns
The 2026 edition of the Global Report on Food Crises also recorded the lowest country coverage in its ten-year history.
Eighteen countries and territories were unable to provide food insecurity data that met the report’s technical standards.
Five of those countries—Burkina Faso, the Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and displaced populations in Algeria and Ecuador—had previously reported data representing more than 27 million people experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity in 2024.
However, no updated estimates could be produced for 2025.
The reduction in available information reflects a broader decline in global food security monitoring.
The World Food Programme conducted approximately 800,000 survey interviews during 2025, representing a 30 per cent decline from the 1.1 million interviews completed the previous year.
Further reductions are expected in 2026.
Similarly, the Food and Agriculture Organization reduced household survey interviews by around 31 per cent, from roughly 170,000 in 2024 to 118,000 in 2025. Population coverage of food security assessments also declined by approximately 40 per cent in Zambia, 17 per cent in Malawi and 14 per cent in Guinea. The report warns that weakening data systems make it increasingly difficult to understand the full scale of global hunger and to direct assistance where it is most needed.
The Global Report on Food Crises 2026 is expected to shape discussions throughout the Hamburg Sustainability Conference as governments, international organisations and private sector leaders consider how to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
With global hunger remaining at historically high levels, conflict becoming the leading driver of food insecurity, child malnutrition affecting tens of millions and humanitarian financing declining, the report presents a sobering assessment of current global trends.
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