2025 GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX

20 YEARS OF TRACKING PROGRESS: TIME TO RECOMMIT TO ZERO HUNGER

Produced by Welthungerhilfe (WHH), Concern Worldwide, and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV)

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators:

1. Undernourishment: the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake.

2. Child stunting: the share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.

3. Child wasting: the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.

4. Child mortality: the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.

FOREWORD

When the Global Hunger Index (GHI) began 20 years ago, it rested on the hypothesis that bringing knowledge together with political will and action could bring about meaningful progress in the fight against hunger. The evidence of the past two decades has proven this hypothesis is largely correct. Nonetheless, the 20th edition of the Global Hunger Index comes at a moment of rising alarm about food security globally and in certain regions and hotspots. Development finances are under extreme stress, the humanitarian sector is struggling, and in some areas hunger is persistent or even growing. These words are, however, inadequate to describe the situation on the ground in the hardest-hit places, where food crises are destroying the life chances of millions of people.

In Sudan, the site of one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, famine was detected in several locations in 2024 and has threatened to spread since, while half the country’s population—24.6 million people— was projected to face acute food insecurity between December 2024 and May 2025.

In Gaza, at the time of writing in September 2025, famine is occurring and expanding, while chaotic and inadequate aid deliveries continue to expose the population to starvation and violence. The number of people dying daily as a result of malnutrition reflects the fact that they are denied access to principled humanitarian aid. Aid workers themselves are now reportedly joining the food lines in a dangerous struggle to find daily nourishment.

Conflicts elsewhere, such as in Myanmar, Nigeria, and South Sudan, are generating additional food crises. Instead of taking decisive action, the world stands by. The GHI tracks the state of hunger worldwide, by region, and by country, spotlighting those places where action to address hunger is most urgently needed. Tragically, after decades of slow but steady progress against food and nutrition insecurity, the trajectory has shifted.

The 2025 global GHI score has improved only slightly compared with the 2016 score—meaning that nearly a decade of calls to action have produced meager results. Given that progress on ending hunger has stagnated since 2016, the aspiration of achieving Zero Hunger by 2030—Sustainable Development Goal 2, which the community of nations adopted unanimously in 2015—now seems out of reach. The lack of progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is evidence of leaders’ policy ambivalence: stated ambitions are not being met with adequate resources or actions. Instead of correcting course, many decision-makers are ignoring or underinvesting in expressed commitments and doubling down on destabilizing policies. Monitoring and early-warning systems are being undermined by security risks, bureaucratic impediments, and funding cuts that hamper data collection. In this climate of uncertainty and crisis, this year’s report is highly relevant for tracking and highlighting trends in progress.

The ranking of GHI scores by country offers a heartening look at which countries have achieved advances in combating hunger through firm commitments to the food security of their populations, backed by sound policies and supportive investments. At the same time, it gives a sober look at where much more needs to be done.

The report also takes the occasion of the 20th edition of the GHI to present two special sections: First, we look back at the evolution of GHI policy recommendations over time to see the changes in thinking and key themes that persist. Second, experts from national governments and academia share their perspectives on food and nutrition security, overcoming hunger, and the contributions of the GHI in the past two decades. These sections emphasize the vital importance of governance—as exemplified by sound policies, laws, and institutions—in overcoming hunger and fulfilling people’s right to food. This focus on governance reminds us that hunger is not inevitable. It is a policy failure, often arising out of conflict. We are reminded of Alex de Waal’s powerful words in the 2015 Global Hunger Index report: “While the United Nations and powerful governments can predict and stop major food crises, ultimately the decision is always political … Political commitment at the highest levels to prevent famine, no matter what the political context, is needed. Countries in need should be aided, regardless of their standing with any other government.”

At a time of profound crisis, the simple message is that no one should ever go hungry. Today, with millions seeing their human right to adequate food—as set out in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights—violated and a growing number facing starvation, we risk making this reality no longer our shame, but our norm. This moral surrender is not and must never be acceptable, and the role of the GHI is to challenge it.

Let us recommit to our expressed ideals and bring our resources and energies to bear in the effort to end hunger once and for all.