UN SOFI 2026 — Global Hunger

Report

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2026

Theme/title in the digest:
“Understanding and Addressing the High Cost of a Healthy Diet”

Global Hunger — 2025

645 million people

or 7.8% of global population faced hunger.

Previous year:
8.1%

Important Comparison

Number remains 61 million higher than 2019, the pre-COVID level.

SDG

The world remains off track for:

SDG-2 → Zero Hunger by 2030

Five UN Agencies

Remember:

F-I-U-W-W

• FAO
• IFAD
• UNICEF
• WFP
• WHO

Major Development

For the first time since such data have been tracked, Africa replaced Asia as the region with the largest number of undernourished people, according to the digest.

Projections

Quick-recovery scenario:
~511 million chronically undernourished by 2030.

Persistent oil/gas/fertilizer disruption:
Up to 522 million.

India

• Undernourished: 142.5 million
• Decline: 42% over 20 years
• Cost of Healthy Diet: USD 4.11/person/day PPP
• People unable to afford a healthy diet: 520.1 million

UPSC Angle

GS-II: Hunger + nutrition + SDGs + food security.

Mains Keywords:

• Food affordability
• Healthy diet
• Fertilizer prices
• Supply-chain disruptions
• Nutrition security