What is food security?
Food security is defined as access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life. An official definition was provided at the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome and revised in 2001. Food insecurity, on the other hand, refers to a situation where the conditions mentioned above are not met. Chronic food insecurity occurs when a person is unable to consume enough food for a prolonged period to maintain a normal, active, and healthy life. Acute food insecurity, however, occurs when people’s lives or livelihoods are threatened.
How many people suffer from food insecurity?
The latest data from the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report shows that up to 757 million people suffered from chronic hunger worldwide in 2023. The World Food Programme’s (WFP) Global Outlook 2025 estimated that, as of November 2024, 343 million people were experiencing acute food insecurity in the 74 countries where WFP operates and where data is available.
