In 2024, over 295 million people across 53 countries and territories faced acute hunger—an increase of almost 14 million people compared to 2023, while the number of people facing catastrophic levels of hunger reached a record high
Acute food insecurity and child malnutrition rose for the sixth consecutive year in 2024, pushing millions of people to the brink in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions, according to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC).
The report shows conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes, and forced displacement continued to drive food insecurity and malnutrition around the world, with catastrophic impacts on many already fragile regions.
In 2024, more than 295 million people across 53 countries and territories experienced acute levels of hunger– an increase of 13.7 million from 2023. Of great concern is the worsening prevalence of acute food insecurity, which now stands at 22.6 per cent of the population assessed. This marks the fifth consecutive year in which this figure has remained above 20 per cent.
The number of people facing catastrophic hunger (IPC/CH Phase 5) more than doubled over the same period to reach 1.9 million – the highest on record since the GRFC began tracking in 2016.
Malnutrition, particularly among children, reached extremely high levels, including in the Gaza Strip, Mali, Sudan, and Yemen. Nearly 38 million children under five were acutely malnourished across 26 nutrition crises.
The report also highlights a sharp increase in hunger driven by forced displacement, with nearly 95 million forcibly displaced people, including internally displaced persons (IDPs), asylum seekers and refugees, living in countries facing food crises such as, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Sudan, and Syria out of a global total of 128 million forcibly displaced people.
