Explore data-driven insights on global food security and hunger, from undernourishment trends and regional breakdowns to the climate, conflict, and inequality driving food crises around the world. Updated regularly as new data emerges.
The 20 countries with the highest female severe food insecurity rates in 2024 span South Sudan (63.1%) to Gambia (22.7%). All are in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, or the Caribbean.
While women bear the heavier burden of food insecurity in most of the world, 9 countries show the reverse, with gaps ranging from 1.1pp in Japan to 7.3pp in Jamaica.
In 31 countries, women face severe food insecurity at significantly higher rates than men, with Pakistan recording the starkest gap: women at 15.1% versus men at just 5.1%.
Of 126 countries assessed, just 8 (only 6%) are classified in the Critical or Severe tier, yet their populations number in the hundreds of millions and their food insecurity rates range from 30% to 63%, representing the most acute humanitarian food emergency on earth today.
The global mean rate of severe food insecurity has climbed from 7.8% in 2016 to 10.0% in 2024, with 41 countries now above 10%, a crisis driven by conflict, climate shocks, and a COVID-19 reversal that wiped out years of progress in a single year.
