Rome, Italy. Conflict, drought and shrinking aid will keep global hunger at critical levels in 2026, with food insecurity expected to worsen in some of the world’s most fragile countries, according to the 2026 Global Report on Food Crises.
Report findings and trends
The 10th edition of the report, published by a coalition of development and humanitarian organisations, said acute hunger had doubled over the past decade, with two famines declared last year for the first time in the report’s history, in Gaza and Sudan.
In 2025, 266 million people in 47 countries and territories faced high levels of acute food insecurity. The report said 1.4 million people faced catastrophic conditions in parts of Haiti, Mali, Gaza, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.
Child malnutrition
In 2025, 35.5 million children worldwide were acutely malnourished, including nearly 10 million suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Outlook for 2026 and 2026 conditions
The report said severity levels remained critical, with only Haiti expected to escape from the worst “catastrophic” band due to a slight improvement in security and increased humanitarian aid.
Comments from IFAD
“We are no longer seeing just temporary shocks, but persistent shocks over time,” said Alvaro Lario, head of the U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development, which helps draw up the annual report.
“The main message is that food insecurity is not an isolated issue anymore, but is putting pressure on global stability,” he told Reuters.
Middle East conflict and market risks
Lario said the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran had added to the alarm, warning that prolonged disruption to energy and fertilizer trade could spill over into global food markets and worsen hunger in import-dependent countries already in crisis.
“Even if the conflict in the Middle East were to end right now, we know that a lot of the food price shocks and inflation will happen in the next six months,” he said.
West Africa and the Sahel
The report said that even before the added stress of the latest war, West Africa and the Sahel were likely to remain under heavy pressure this year from conflict and persistent inflation, particularly in Nigeria, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
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