Africa: Northern Africa

While declining globally, hunger continued to rise across Africa in 2024. An estimated 307 million people in the region, or more than 20 percent of the region’s population, experienced hunger, according to the 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report. This was up from just under 19 percent in 2022 and from 17.4 percent in 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2015 when the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal Agenda was released, hunger has increased in the region by 113 million people.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a devastating war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. What began as a struggle for power has turned into a national catastrophe. More than 14 million people have been displaced. Health and education systems have collapsed and food insecurity threatens over half the population of about 50 million.

The war has disrupted key sectors, triggering severe economic contractions, and worsening poverty and unemployment levels.

Sudan has now entered its third year of armed conflict, resulting in economic collapse and a deepening humanitarian crisis. As of April 2025, over 8.6 million people have been internally displaced, and over 3 million have fled to neighboring countries. Famine has been confirmed in 10 areas and internally displaced person (IDP) camps, with 17 others at risk. GDP contracted by 20% in 2023 and 15% in 2024 alongside soaring inflation and widespread food insecurity. The conflict is now among the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

As the conflict in Sudan enters its twentieth month, acute food insecurity in the country is spreading rapidly. According to a new alert from the IPC Famine Review Committee, Famine conditions have been identified in five areas of the country, with an additional five areas expected to face Famine between December 2024 and March 2025. As many as 17 additional areas are at risk of Famine, and half the country’s population—24.6 million people—is currently experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.

Millions of people across 22 countries and territories may be pushed into acute food insecurity by May 2025, according to the latest FAO-WFP Hunger Hotspots Report. Ongoing and increasing conflict in many areas of the world, along with economic hardships and extreme weather caused by climate change and the La Niña phenomenon, are behind this significant increase in both the magnitude and the severity of acute food insecurity.