Category: World hunger

Despite producing enough food to feed everyone on the planet, an estimated 733 million people faced chronic hunger in 2023. The pressing question, therefore, is not whether we produce enough, but is hunger still an issue in the modern world? The answer is a resounding and complex 'yes', driven by a multitude of intersecting crises.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), nearly 2.3 billion people faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2024, yet world hunger affects a smaller, though still alarmingly high, number. This critical discrepancy reveals that while frequently used interchangeably, world hunger and food insecurity are not the same thing, but rather deeply connected facets of a complex global challenge.

According to the World Food Programme, more than 319 million people were facing acute hunger in 67 countries in 2025, with millions on the brink of catastrophic food shortages. When this severe lack of food access persists in a region over a prolonged period, it leads to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The specific term used to describe this devastating situation is 'famine'.

As of 2024, approximately 673 million people went hungry, a stark figure that highlights the persistent global challenge of food insecurity, despite the world producing enough food to feed everyone. Understanding how many people worldwide don't have enough to eat requires looking beyond simple hunger figures to include broader issues of food insecurity and malnutrition.

In 2024, approximately one in twelve people globally faced hunger, despite enough food being produced for all. This pressing statistic forces us to confront the question: how many people need to be fed, and why does this crisis persist?

Despite the world producing enough food to feed everyone, nearly 10% of the global population still faces chronic hunger. A simple donation or meal might seem like the obvious solution, but the question, "Why can't you feed starving people?" reveals a web of complex issues far beyond just a lack of food.

According to a 2024 report by the World Food Programme, over 294 million people faced acute food insecurity, a life-threatening condition where a person's inability to consume adequate food places their life or livelihood in immediate danger. This article explains the meaning of acute food insecurity, its key drivers, and how it is measured by humanitarian organizations.

Over 673 million people experienced hunger in 2024, yet folklore often points to a single 18th-century figure when asking, who is the most hungry person in the world. This individual, a man known as Tarrare, suffered from an extreme, insatiable appetite that remains a medical mystery to this day.

According to the World Food Programme, approximately 2.4 billion people worldwide experience moderate or severe food insecurity, a formal and more comprehensive term often used as another name for food scarcity. While food scarcity refers simply to a lack of sufficient food, food insecurity captures the complex systemic issues of inconsistent access to enough nutritious food for an active, healthy life.

According to the World Health Organization, all countries are affected by one or more forms of malnutrition, making it one of the greatest global health challenges. Pinpointing a single country with the absolute worst malnutrition is complex, as data varies between acute crises and long-term rates, but regions plagued by conflict and climate shocks consistently top concern lists.