Nigeria has been listed among ten countries carrying nearly two-thirds of the global burden of acute hunger, according to a new report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and partners
under the Global Network Against Food Crises.
The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) revealed that 266 million people across 47 countries faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025 — almost a quarter of the population studied and nearly double the proportion recorded in 2016.
The ten worst-hit countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, with Nigeria, DR Congo, and Sudan alone accounting for almost one-third of the global total.
The report also confirmed famine conditions in Gaza and parts of Sudan in 2025, the first time two separate famines have been recorded in a single year since the GRFC began tracking. Yemen, meanwhile, newly recorded populations experiencing catastrophic hunger, even as such numbers declined slightly in Gaza and Sudan.
According to the findings, conflict remains the leading driver of hunger, affecting 147.4 million people across 19 countries, while extreme weather and economic shocks continue to worsen the crisis.
“Conflict was the primary driver in almost all countries/territories with populations facing Catastrophe. Weather extremes, including the lasting impact of the 2023–2024 El Niño in Southern Africa, La Niña impacts in the Horn of Africa, and tropical storms in Latin America, made weather extremes the primary driver in 16 countries/territories, where 87.5 million people were facing high levels of acute food insecurity,” the report reads.
“The impact of economic shocks has continuously declined since the peak in 2022. In 2025, it was the main driver in 12 countries/territories, where 29.8 million people were facing high levels of acute food insecurity. Economic uncertainty and high food prices, however, were impacting food insecurity in many countries, as 31 countries/territories reported economic shocks as an additional driver.”
Qu Dongyu warned that the situation is becoming entrenched rather than temporary, saying acute food insecurity is now persistent and recurring on a global scale.
