Acute Food Insecurity Continues to Rise throughout Africa South of the Sahara: Global Report on Food Crises Released

Conflict, extreme weather events, and economic shocks led to worsening food security outcomes throughout much of Africa south of the Sahara in 2024, according to the recently released 2025 Global Report on Food Crises. While a number of countries saw improvements in their levels of acute food insecurity, all regions saw an overall increase in the number of acute food-insecure people.

In Central and Southern Africa, a total of 56 million people across 12 analyzed countries (Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) experienced acute food insecurity in 2024. This represents an additional 6.4 million people compared to 2023. Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia saw the largest increases in food insecurity. While Madagascar experienced an improvement in overall food security outcomes, high levels of acute food insecurity remain (22 percent of the population, compared to 36 percent in 2023).

The 2023/24 El Niño phenomenon and subsequent high temperatures and prolonged dry weather was one of the main drivers of declining food security in Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. According to the report, the weather event was comparable to the 2015/16 El Niño phenomenon that devastated the region. The droughts caused by last year’s El Niño led to both widespread crop failures and poor vegetation conditions for livestock pasturing. Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe all declared states of emergency in 2024 as declining agricultural and livestock availability drove rising levels of IPC Phase 3 food insecurity.

In other countries in Central and Southern Africa, ongoing conflict and mass population displacement (Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo) and economic shocks (Eswatini) were the primary drivers of food crisis in 2024.

In the region, nine countries (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) have experienced protracted food crises, meaning they have experienced high levels of acute food insecurity since the publication of the first Global Report on Food Crises in 2017. The drivers of these crises have remained largely the same over the past near-decade: conflict, population displacement, extreme weather events, and economic shocks.

In East Africa, 65.5 million people across eight countries (Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, the Sudan, and Uganda) experienced acute food insecurity in 2024, up by 1.3 million people from 2023. While Kenya, Somalia, Burundi, and South Sudan all saw some improvement in food security outcomes in the past year, the deepening crisis in the Sudan and deteriorating conditions in Ethiopia and Uganda drove up rates of food insecurity for the region as a whole.

The situation in the Sudan remains the most dire in the region, and one of the most dire in the world as a whole. The IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC) confirmed famine conditions for more than 755,000 people in the Sudan in 2024, making it just the third country to experience confirmed famine in 15 years. Ongoing heavy conflict in the country, coupled with heavy rains and flooding in the middle of the year, drove the alarming deterioration in food security. The conflict has displaced wide swathes of the Sudanese population, disrupted supply chains and livelihoods, and severely hampered access to urgently needed humanitarian aid.

Conflict also contributed to worsening food insecurity in Ethiopia and Uganda and continued (though slightly improved) high levels of food insecurity in Somalia and South Sudan.

In other areas of the region, extreme weather events were the primary driver of food insecurity for 32.5 million people, while economic shocks drove food insecurity for 7.4 million people. Since 2019, the share of the east African population facing acute food insecurity has risen from 16 percent to 24.5 percent.

In West Africa, 51.6 million people across 13 countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo) faced acute food insecurity in 2024, up by 7.4 million from 2024. Mali, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria were all particularly hard hit with acute food insecurity, with over 2,500 people facing IPC Phase 5 (catastrophe) food insecurity in Mali.

In Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, the Niger, Nigeria and northern Togo, conflict was the primary driver of acute food insecurity for 46.8 million people. Ongoing conflict and civil unrest have displaced vast portions of the population in these countries, interrupting market functioning and the provision of humanitarian aid and disrupting agricultural and pastoral activities and livelihoods. Economic shocks drove food insecurity for 4.8 million people, while flooding in several countries compounded existing insecurity.

The prevalence of high levels of acute food insecurity has increased dramatically in West Africa, from 5 percent in 2016 to 14 percent.

The outlook for acute food insecurity in 2025 throughout Africa south of the Sahara varies, but high levels of acute food insecurity are expected to persist throughout the region as a whole.  

Sara Gustafson is a freelance writer and communications consultant.