World Food Day: 645 million hungry as over 1bn tonnes of food wasted

About 645 million people, or one in 13 of the world’s population, faced hunger in 2025 while more than a billion tonnes of food was wasted each year, according to UN figures highlighted by Al Jazeera for World Food Day on October 16. The annual UN observance marks the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945, and this year’s theme is “Innovate today, nourish tomorrow”.

Global hunger has fallen for a third consecutive year but remains above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. The UN’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report estimates that 7.8 percent of the world’s population was hungry in 2025, down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and a peak of 8.6 percent in 2022. However, about 61 million more people faced hunger than in 2019.

Africa has more hungry people than any other region. An estimated 309 million people in Africa were undernourished in 2025 — one in five people on the continent and almost half the world’s hungry. By comparison, 292 million people in Asia (6 percent) and 32 million in Latin America and the Caribbean (4.8 percent) were undernourished.

The 2026 Global Hunger Index shows similar patterns. It scores countries out of 100 combining undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality; scores of 35 or more are considered “alarming”. Eight countries are classed as alarming, seven of them in Africa. Somalia has the worst score of 122 ranked countries, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad and Madagascar. Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi and Yemen were also classed as alarming, but conflict and data gaps meant the index could not calculate their scores.

At the same time, much food never reaches a plate. The FAO says about 13 percent of food produced globally is lost after harvest and before it reaches shops, spoiling in storage, transport or processing. Fruits and vegetables suffer the highest losses. Food lost before reaching shops is worth more than $400bn a year.

Shops, restaurants and households then throw away almost a fifth of the food available to consumers — about 1.05 billion tonnes in 2022, according to UNEP. That is equivalent to 52.5 million trucks carrying 20 tonnes each. Households account for 60 percent of this waste, food services 28 percent and shops 12 percent.

On average, each person wastes about 132kg (291 pounds) of food a year, including 79kg (174 pounds) at home. UNEP says hotter countries tend to waste more at home, possibly due to more fresh produce and less refrigeration. The Maldives wastes the most, with each person throwing away about 260kg (573 pounds) a year, about twice the global average. Syria, the Dominican Republic, Seychelles, Mexico and Tunisia follow, each wasting more than 210kg (463 pounds) per person. Spain recorded some of the lowest levels, around 39kg (86 pounds) or less per person.

Food loss and waste costs the global economy more than $1 trillion a year, according to the UN. About 1.4 billion hectares (3.5 billion acres) of land — 28 percent of the world’s agricultural land and an area larger than Canada — is used to grow food that is never eaten. Food loss and waste also generate an estimated 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, including methane released as food rots in landfills.

Source: Al Jazeera.