NAIROBI, Kenya – More than one billion people across Africa are unable to afford a healthy diet, according to a new United Nations report, underscoring the continent’s worsening food affordability crisis.
The findings are contained in the 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report, released this week by five UN agencies during the Second UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake in Addis Ababa.
While the global number of people unable to afford nutritious meals fell to 2.6 billion in 2024, Africa is moving in the opposite direction.
The continent’s numbers rose from 864 million in 2019 to just over one billion last year, making nutrient-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, and animal products increasingly out of reach for millions.
Hunger on the Rise
The report shows that 307 million Africans — more than one in five people — suffered from hunger in 2024, a trend that continues to worsen even as other regions report progress.
“Nutrient-rich foods remain out of reach for many, even as basic staples also become more expensive. The world remains off track to meet any of the seven global nutrition targets by 2030,” said Maximo Torero, Chief Economist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Children and women are bearing the brunt. One-third of children aged six to 23 months are not receiving essential nutrients, while anaemia rates among women aged 15 to 49 are climbing.
Two-thirds of women in this age group also fail to meet minimum dietary diversity standards.
Prices Soaring, Conflicts Adding Pressure
The report attributes the crisis mainly to surging food prices, which since 2020 have risen faster than overall inflation in many low-income countries.
Climate shocks and global conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, have further disrupted supplies.
Maize prices in South Africa surged by 36 per cent, while cocoa prices nearly tripled in Ghana and Ivory Coast following severe droughts.
“Only one out of three children globally is meeting the minimum dietary diversity indicator. We need urgent action to ensure access to life-saving treatment for malnutrition, especially in conflict zones, and to strengthen social protection systems,” said World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The UN urges African governments to implement structural reforms, including increased investment in small-scale farmers, stronger local food systems, and improved trade transparency.
Although lessons from past crises — such as fewer export bans and better institutional coordination — have helped soften recent shocks, the report warns that without deeper reforms, Africa’s worsening food affordability crisis could undermine efforts to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030.
