Addis Ababa, Ethiopia · 28 July 2025
The world must act with greater urgency and inclusiveness to address the uneven progress in the fight against global hunger and malnutrition, said QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), at the launch of the 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report — the first time the flagship report has been presented on the African continent.
The 2025 SOFI report, jointly produced by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO, reveals a modest improvement in global hunger levels, with the share of people facing hunger declining from 8.5 percent in 2023 to 8.2 percent in 2024. However, this global figure masks stark regional disparities that threaten to unravel decades of progress.
A Tale of Two Trajectories
While Asia and Latin America have seen encouraging progress in reducing hunger, the situation in Africa continues to worsen. Projections in the report indicate that by 2030, almost 60 percent of those at risk of chronic hunger will be in Africa — a dramatic shift that underscores the structural vulnerabilities of the continent's food systems.
The launch event, held in the Ethiopian capital, was attended by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, Ethiopia's President Taye Atske-Selassie, and Italy's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Edmondo Cirielli.
"Recovery must be inclusive — we cannot accept a future where entire regions are left behind," said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu at the launch event.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Mohammed described overlapping crises — conflict, climate shocks, inflation, and displacement — as exposing the deep fragility of food systems. "Cooperation must replace conflict," she said.
The Double Burden of Malnutrition
Beyond raw hunger numbers, the SOFI 2025 report paints a complex picture of global malnutrition. Child stunting has declined modestly over the past decade, but wasting has stagnated. Anemia among women aged 15–49 has increased from 27.6 percent to 30.7 percent, with most regions showing stagnation or deterioration.
Adult obesity rose from 12.1 percent in 2012 to 15.8 percent in 2022 — a sharp reminder of the double burden of malnutrition, where undernutrition and overnutrition coexist within the same communities and even households.
For the first time, the SOFI report includes new indicators of dietary diversity for both children and women. The findings are concerning: only one-third of children aged 6 to 23 months and two-thirds of women aged 15 to 49 meet the minimum criteria for dietary diversity.
Food Price Inflation as a Structural Barrier
SOFI 2025 includes a special focus on food inflation, analyzing its causes, consequences, and policy responses. Since 2020, food price inflation has consistently outpaced overall inflation, exposing the unique vulnerabilities of agrifood systems and underscoring the urgent need to prioritize food policy in macroeconomic planning.
As of 2024, 2.6 billion people still could not afford a healthy diet. The report's analysis of food inflation reveals that protectionist and inward-looking policies during global disruptions have been counterproductive, driving prices higher and reducing access for the most vulnerable populations.
"In the face of global disruptions, protectionist or inward-looking policies are counterproductive. What we need is coordinated global action — based on shared responsibility, solidarity, and sound evidence," the FAO Director-General said.
Implications for Policy and Action
The report's launch in Addis Ababa was a deliberate signal: Africa is where the battle for Zero Hunger will be won or lost. With 307 million people already food insecure on the continent and the share projected to reach 60 percent of the global total by 2030, the report calls for a fundamental rethinking of how food systems are supported.
The path forward demands what Qu described as "urgency, inclusiveness, and action" — reaching all communities, rural and urban, women and men, children and elders, with solutions that are timely, fair, and effective.
Ethiopia's President Taye Atske-Selassie described the report as a "compelling call for action" that helps "inform policies to bring forward quick gains and long-term solutions."
Italy's Deputy Minister Cirielli recalled how food security represents a strategic priority: "not just about what we eat, but also about the future of our societies, the well-being of our economic systems and global health."
Sources
- FAO, SOFI 2025: FAO calls for urgent, coordinated and inclusive action to end global hunger, 28 July 2025 —
- FAO, UN report: global hunger levels ease for third consecutive year as regional disparities persist —
- UNICEF, SOFI 2025 data resources —
- FAO, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 —
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Institutional Research Desk · Foresight Institute of Research and Translation
The collective editorial and research translation board of FIRAT, synthesising peer-reviewed evidence, policy briefs, and division milestones across our seven foundational research pillars.
