Hunger on the rise across Africa: 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report

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.

By 2030, the report forecasts, nearly 60 percent of the world’s 512 million hungry people will live in Africa.

Central Africa experienced the highest rates of hunger in the world—more than 30 percent, up from 29.7 percent in 28.7 percent in 2022 and just over 25 percent in 2019. In northern Africa, hunger rates jumped from less than 6 percent in 2019 and 7.8 percent in 2022 to nearly 11 percent in 2024. Southern Africa saw an increase from 8 percent in 2019 and just over 10 percent in 2022 to 11.4 percent, while western Africa saw rates jump from 1.9 in 2019 and 15.1 in 2022 to 16.5 in 2022.  

Eastern Africa has been an outlier in the region, with hunger rates remaining steady, albeit high, at nearly 26 percent since 2022 and declining from 27 percent in 2019.

Rates of moderate and severe food insecurity also rose in the region in 2024. Approximately 893 million people were either moderately or severely food insecure, an increase of 41 million from 2023. Of these, 337 million were estimated to potentially face severe food insecurity. Central Africa again saw the highest rates, with more than three-quarters of the population food insecure in 2024.

The majority of Africa’s food-insecure population lived in rural areas in 2024. Nearly 63 percent of the region’s rural population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, compared to 58.6 percent in per-urban areas and 55.7 percent in urban areas. Since 2022, however, food security has worsened for both rural and urban areas.

The report emphasizes that around the world, countries with strong social safety nets and emergency response capabilities and effective coordination among fiscal institutions were best able to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine conflict, and other shocks to markets and agrifood systems around the world in recent years. In addition to enhancing these systems and institutions, African policymakers should also focus on investments in food storage, transport infrastructure, strategic food reserves, and market information systems to make agrifood systems more stable and reliable in the face of ongoing shocks.