Food crises: no respite as 1.4 m people suffer the most severe level of food insecurity in 2025

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In 2025, 266 million people in 47 countries/territories faced high levels of acute food insecurity (classification IPC/CH Phase 3 or above), representing 22.9% of the analysed population, according to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2026, released today.

It is a slight increase from the 22.3% share reported in 2024, when the absolute number was higher (for 53 countries a total of 296 million people). In fact, funding cuts and limited access to conflict areas have resulted in the lowest availability of data in a decade, a worrying trend for independent and timely reporting about food insecurity.

Lack of sufficient data could affect a fair and efficient humanitarian fund allocation and interventions. Out of 65 selected countries/territories, this year's GRFC included data for only 47 countries/territories, for which it was possible to produce reliable and consensus based acute food insecurity estimates.

This year marks the 10th edition of the Global Report on Food Crises, published under the umbrella of the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) and building on consensus-based multiagency analysis to provide an overview of acute food insecurity, acute malnutrition and population displacement in countries/territories facing food crises in 2025.

Six countries/territories (Haiti, Mali, Gaza Strip, South Sudan, the Sudan and Yemen) had populations in Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5), accounting for 1.4 million people. This is the most severe level of acute food insecurity according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a multi-stakeholder initiative informing food crisis response globally.

Over 39 million people in 32 countries and territories were in Emergency (IPC/CH Phase 4). Famine (IPC Phase 5) was confirmed in parts of the Gaza Strip and the Sudan, and a risk of Famine remained in other areas of the Gaza Strip, the Sudan and South Sudan, including in projections extending into 2026.

Outlook 2026

As of March 2026, 34 of the 47 countries and territories with food crises with acute food insecurity data, provided projections covering 2026. Although the data offers a partial picture for the current year, there are no improvements in sight and, at the time projections were made, the impact of the conflict escalation in the Middle East was often unaccounted for.

While immediate food security implications of the war are mainly regional given Gulf countries' dependence on food imports, continued transport disruptions could create wider spillover risks for global agrifood markets, as these countries are major energy and fertiliser exporters.

Five countries have populations projected in Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) in 2026: around 207 000 people in this phase in the Sudan even during the post-harvest period, 41 000 people in Yemen, 28 000 people in South Sudan, 15 000 people in Nigeria and nearly 2 000 people in the Gaza Strip.

Where were the largest food crises in 2025?

Ten countries accounted for two-thirds of all people facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and the Sudan alone representing nearly one-third of the total. Afghanistan, South Sudan, the Sudan and Yemen experienced the largest food crises both in the terms of the share and absolute number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity.

The Gaza Strip had all of its population (100 percent) in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above), representing the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity, as recorded also in 2023 and 2024. Another four countries had over half of their population facing high levels of acute food insecurity, ranging from 51 percent in Haiti and the Sudan to 52 and 57 percent in Yemen and South Sudan, respectively.

Acute food insecurity: trends over 10 years

The total number of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity more than doubled between 2016 and 2025. The prevalence has remained over 20% since 2020.

The number of people facing Catastrophe (IPC/ CH Phase 5) has increased more than nine-fold since 2016, from around 155 000 people in two countries to 1.4 million in six countries/territories by 2025, mainly due to severe and sudden deteriorations in some countries/territories due to armed conflicts, such as Sudan and Gaza.

According to data from all 10 editions of the GRFC, 33 countries aren't just facing temporary food crises, they are "protracted" crises: a single bad harvest or a spike in food prices isn't just a setback, it becomes cumulative. Because of deep-rooted political instability, economic decay, and high exposure to extreme events, these countries have lost the resilience and ability to recover.

Each new shock piles on top of the existing structural vulnerabilities, leaving millions in a state of protracted, high acute food insecurity. In these contexts, humanitarian assistance alone cannot reverse underlying food insecurity dynamics.

Acute malnutrition

The Gaza Strip, the Sudan, Myanmar and South Sudan experienced the most severe nutrition crises in 2025.

The report estimates that 35.5 million children aged 6-59 months were acutely malnourished across the 23 countries/territories experiencing nutrition crises, nearly 10 million of whom with severe acute malnutrition. About 9.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women were acutely malnourished across 21 countries/territories.

Six of the 10 largest nutrition crises also ranked among the world's largest food crises, highlighting how hunger, disease, unsafe water and weak health systems reinforce one another.

Forced displacement

There is a strong overlap between displacement and acute food insecurity. Forcibly displaced people include refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons (IDPs) who flee conflict, insecurity and natural hazards. Overall, 86% of all forcibly displaced persons were in countries/territories with food crises. In 2025, displaced populations were either among those experiencing Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) or heavily concentrated in areas where Phase 5 populations lived.

Conflict and insecurity were the main drivers of displacement for nearly three-quarters of IDPs in countries with food crises (73% across 23 countries).

JRC support: data analysis, drafting, and review

The Global Network Against Food Crises, a coalition of development and humanitarian organisations united in their efforts to address food crises, authored the report. The network was launched by the EU, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in 2016. It expanded to include the World Bank, UNICEF, USAID, IFAD and UNHCR.

The JRC is one of the partners directly participating in the report's production. The report's findings are based on rigorous analysis and data from multiple sources, ensuring a comprehensive and accurate picture of global food crises. The JRC is part of the Core Technical Group (CTG), that analyses the data of the report each year and takes the main decisions about the reports structure and content. The JRC also provides technical and advisory support to the Integrated food security Phase Classification (IPC) and the Cadre Harmonisé (CH) frameworks, which are GRFC's main sources of information.

The GRFC 2026 also includes information and data produced by the JRC, including by the Anomaly Hotspots of Agriculture (ASAP) system and the INFORM Risk index. The ASAP system provides insights into weather extremes affecting food security, such as droughts, and assesses the exposure to drought of countries with food crisis. It is also a near real time source of information feeding into IPC and CH analysis.

The INFORM Risk index is utilised to assess structural vulnerabilities in countries and their capacity to address crises, providing a comprehensive framework for understanding the complex factors that contribute to food insecurity.

By integrating these JRC data, the GRFC 2026 gains a more comprehensive understanding of the complex factors driving food and nutrition insecurity, enabling the development of evidence-based policies and programs to reduce hunger and malnutrition worldwide.

The JRC published the first Global Report on Food Crises in 2016 in collaboration with the then European Commission's Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development, now International Partnerships. The annual report has become, since then, an international multi-partner initiative under the Global Network Against Food Crises.

Related links

Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2026

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