Azernews.Az

Ulviyya Poladova

Read more

A growing share of global hunger is becoming entrenched in a small group of conflict-hit countries, with two-thirds of people facing acute food insecurity concentrated in just 10 nations, AzerNEWS reports.

The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises, released by an alliance of UN agencies, the European Union, and international partners, reveals a worsening global hunger situation, with 266 million people across 47 countries experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025.

According to UN press service, this figure represents nearly a quarter of the population analyzed and marks a dramatic increase compared to 2016, when the share was almost half as large. The findings highlight a troubling shift: hunger is no longer driven solely by temporary shocks but is becoming a persistent and structural global challenge.

"Acute food insecurity today is not just widespread – it is also persistent and recurring," said UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Qu Dongyu, warning that the crisis has become structural rather than temporary.

Conflict remains the primary driver, accounting for more than half of all people facing severe hunger.

Ten countries - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen - accounted for two-thirds of all people facing high levels of acute hunger.

At the most extreme end, famine was confirmed in 2025 in Gaza and parts of Sudan - the first time since the report began that two separate famines have been recorded in a single year.

More than 85 million people were displaced across food-crisis contexts last year, with displaced populations consistently facing higher levels of hunger than host communities.

Children are among the most affected. In 2025, 35.5 million children were acutely malnourished, including nearly 10 million suffering from severe acute malnutrition - a life-threatening condition that dramatically increases the risk of death.

Image: Getty Images