In 2025, 66.6% of people in Africa, just over a billion, could not afford a healthy diet, according to “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026”. That’s the highest rate of any region, more than double Latin America and the Caribbean (25.7%) and Asia (28.9%).
This is a distinct measure from hunger itself. Africa’s undernourishment rate actually edged down slightly in 2025, the first improvement since the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development began in 2015, but the cost of a healthy diet has kept rising faster than incomes, widening the affordability gap even as outright hunger eases.
A healthy diet, in the report’s terms, is one that supplies all essential nutrients in balanced proportions of carbohydrates, protein and fat across a variety of foods; going without one is linked to child stunting, obesity and other forms of malnutrition.
The report points to a mix of pressures behind this year’s figures: ongoing conflict and shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz pushing up global food and fuel prices, on top of longer-running strains like extreme weather.
