Here’s a bit of news worth celebrating: Despite multiple violent conflicts around the globe, and stubborn inflation, 2025 was the third year in a row in which global hunger fell.
That’s according to a July report from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, which found that the number of undernourished people in the world dropped by a remarkable 14 million since 2024. There are still far too many in need of food — 645 million people, or just under 8 percent of the world population — but the trend line is encouraging.
There are nuances. The numbers remain well above pre-pandemic levels, and they mask some regional disparities. Asia and Latin America recorded the largest declines in food insecurity, but in Africa, the number of people who struggle to meet their dietary needs has remained stagnant.
And while the report predicts the decline will continue through the end of the decade, it warns that several factors could blunt those gains. One is this year’s war in the Middle East, which has disrupted global energy markets as well as the supply of fertilizers.
Still, the report captures a heartening trend: Even though the cost of a healthy diet has steadily increased just about everywhere in the past decade, the proportion of people who cannot afford it has persistently declined.
That is the fruit of economic growth across much of the world, which has spurred incomes to rise faster than food prices. It’s also a result of technological advances in agriculture. Innovative farming techniques continue to defy warnings that climate change and population growth would ravage agricultural systems.
Those advances are also good for the climate. The volume of carbon emissions per unit of food produced is declining, as Cornell University researchers illustrated in a study published in January.
Despite the significant inroads against world hunger, it remains too commonplace. The best way to meet that need in the long run is to create conditions for economic freedom and the growth it brings.
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