Bayer

The 2026 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report delivers both encouraging news and a stark reminder of how far the world still has to go. Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year, with an estimated 645 million people facing hunger in 2025 (7.8 per cent of the global population). Yet 2.1 billion people (25.8 per cent) still experienced moderate or severe food insecurity and 2.69 billion people (32.7 per cent) could not afford a healthy diet. These numbers tell us something important: food security remains unfinished business. The world cannot look away from hunger, especially when progress is uneven and fragile. Africa is now home to the largest number of hungry people globally, with approximately 309 million people facing hunger in 2025, compared with 292 million in Asia. Current projections suggest that 510 to 520 million people could still face hunger in 2030, underscoring how far the world remains from achieving Zero Hunger.

But SOFI 2026 also sharpens another message: ending hunger is not the same as ensuring people are nourished. “The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines food security as a situation in which all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO, 2008; SOFI 2026). The concept rests on four interconnected dimensions: availability, access, utilization and stability. Yet global food debates have often been dominated by calories, staple crops and supply. These remain essential. Rice, maize, wheat and other staples sustain billions of people. But a full stomach does not always mean a nourished body.

That is where nutrition security must come into sharper focus. Nutrition security asks not only whether people have enough calories, but whether they can access diets that are diverse, safe, nutrient-rich and supportive of long-term health. In other words, nutrition security shifts the question from “Are there enough calories?” to “Are there enough nutritious calories that are accessible and affordable?” SOFI 2026 makes the gap visible. Only 30.8 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months worldwide consume a minimally diverse diet. This means consuming foods or beverages from at least five of eight defined food groups during the previous day, a widely used indicator of whether young children receive sufficient dietary variety. Behind this statistic are children missing essential nutrients during a critical stage of physical and cognitive development.

Affordability is central to the challenge. In 2025, the average global cost of a healthy diet rose to 4.28 purchasing power parity dollars per person per day, while nearly one in three people could not afford such a diet. In Africa, the figure reached 66.6 percent. The report also helps explain why healthy diets remain unaffordable for so many households. Fruits, vegetables and animal-source foods account for the largest share of the total cost of a healthy diet, while staple grains and other starchy foods account for only a small portion of that cost. As a result, many families face a difficult trade-off between purchasing enough calories and purchasing enough nutrients.

A world with sufficient calories but inadequate nutrition cannot be considered truly food secure.

Fruits and vegetables are particularly important, yet they are also among the most vulnerable parts of the food system. They are perishable, sensitive to climate pressures and exposed to losses during harvesting, storage, packaging and transport. SOFI 2026 highlights that a substantial share of the cost consumers pay for food originates beyond farmgate, including processing, logistics and distribution. Weak cold chains, unreliable energy and inefficient markets can therefore turn nutritious foods into even less affordable foods.

This is why nutrition security begins before food reaches the plate and even before crops reach the farm. Investments in agricultural research, seed breeding and innovation can help farmers access crop varieties designed for productivity, resilience, quality and longer shelf life. Farmers, including small-scale producers, also need access to quality seeds, water, finance, knowledge and markets. Productivity matters, but so does resilience: the ability to keep producing under climate stress and supply disruptions. Reducing post-harvest losses is equally critical so that more of what is grown reaches markets and households.

No single intervention can deliver nutrition security. Agricultural innovation must be combined with efficient value chains, infrastructure, social protection, health and nutrition services and policies that make healthy choices more affordable and accessible. The goal is not to replace food security with nutrition security. Strong staple crop systems, resilient livelihoods and emergency assistance remain indispensable.

The next frontier is recognizing that food security without nutrition security is no longer enough. A world with sufficient calories but inadequate nutrition cannot be considered truly food secure. As SOFI 2026 reminds us, the ultimate measure of progress is not simply whether people survive, but whether they can thrive.