The Ledger · Entry 16
Fewer people go hungry than a generation ago
Share of the world's population that is undernourished
Data: Our World in Data, based on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Undernourishment is the FAO's measure of how many people do not get enough calories to lead an active, healthy life. It is a floor-level definition of hunger, and for a long stretch after 2000 the share of the world below it fell steadily, as incomes rose and food reached further.
The key rows
Then the trend bent the wrong way. The pandemic, conflict, and food-price shocks pushed the share back up in the early 2020s, from 7.1% in 2017 to 8.8% in 2021, before it began easing again to 8.2% in 2024. The long line still sits well below where it started, but hunger is one of the few numbers here that has recently moved backwards, and it is worth watching.
Asked often
Is world hunger rising or falling?
Over the long run it has fallen: the share of people who are undernourished dropped from 12.7% in 2000 to 8.2% in 2024. But it rose during the pandemic years, reaching 8.8% in 2021 before easing, so recent progress has been bumpy.
What does undernourished mean?
The FAO defines it as not consuming enough calories to maintain a normal, active life. It is an estimate of chronic hunger across a whole population, not a headcount of individuals.
How many people does this represent?
The series tracks the share of the population, not the absolute number. In 2024 about 8.2% of the world was undernourished, which still amounts to hundreds of millions of people.
The world also got better today.
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