The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises on Friday revealed that two-thirds of all people facing high levels of acute hunger are concentrated in only 10 countries.

The report from the Global Network Against Food Crises further showed that acute food insecurity remains highly concentrated in the countries, including Nigeria.

It stated, “Ten countries namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen. accounted for two-thirds of all people facing high levels of acute hunger.”

The major international report also found that 266 million people across 47 countries experienced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025.

The figure, published by an alliance of UN agencies, the EU, and partners, found that nearly a quarter of the population was analysed and almost double the share recorded in 2016.

The report found that conflict remains the primary driver, accounting for more than half of all people facing severe hunger.

“Acute food insecurity today is not just widespread – it is also persistent and recurring,” the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General Qu Dongyu, said.

Qu warned that the crisis had become structural rather than temporary.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote the foreword of the report.

“This report is a call to action to summon the political will to rapidly scale up investment in lifesaving aid, and work to end the conflicts that inflict so much suffering on so many,” Guterres stated. 

The report also highlights that more than 39 million people in 32 countries faced emergency levels of food insecurity, while the number of people experiencing catastrophic hunger increased ninefold since 2016.

The report says children are among the most affected as 35.5 million children were acutely malnourished, including nearly 10 million suffered from severe acute malnutrition in 2025.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Ricardo Pires warned, “Children with severe wasting are too thin for their height. Their immune systems weakened to the extent that ordinary childhood illnesses can become fatal.”

The report warns that forced displacement is compounding the crisis.

More than 85 million people were displaced across food-crisis contexts in 2025, with displaced populations consistently facing higher levels of hunger than host communities.

“Forced displacement and food insecurity are deeply interconnected, forming a vicious cycle,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih, noted.

Salih warned that humanitarian aid alone was not enough to break the pattern.

Despite the scale of the crisis, the report warns that funding is moving in the opposite direction.

Looking ahead, the report found that the outlook for 2026 remains bleak.

Ongoing conflicts, climate shocks and economic instability are expected to keep food insecurity at critical levels in many countries.

The report also spots new risks linked to global market disruptions, including those stemming from the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, which could further increase food prices and strain supply chains.

Aid agencies warn that without a shift in approach, the world risks becoming locked into a cycle of deepening crises, with hunger no longer a temporary emergency but an increasingly persistent feature of global instability.

“We must shift from reacting too late to acting early, and from relying solely on food assistance to protecting local food production – because that is how we reduce needs, save lives and build resilience over time,” the FAO Director-General Qu said. 

(NAN)