Subscribe: Gist E-Paper
About 191.2 million Nigerians were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2025 as soaring food prices pushed nutritious meals beyond the reach of millions, according to a new United Nations report.
The 2026 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report revealed that the number of Nigerians unable to afford a healthy diet rose sharply from 137.5 million in 2017 to 191.2 million in 2025, reflecting the worsening impact of food inflation on household nutrition.
According to the report, the minimum daily cost of a healthy diet in Nigeria increased from $2.78 to $4.17 in purchasing power parity (PPP) per person over the eight-year period.
The UN described a healthy diet as one that is balanced, diverse and nutritionally adequate, containing foods from six major groups: starchy staples, animal-source foods, legumes, nuts and seeds, vegetables, fruits, and oils and fats. It noted that affordability was measured by the minimum daily cost of purchasing locally available foods capable of meeting nutritional requirements.
Across Africa, the report said 66.6 per cent of the population could not afford a healthy diet in 2025, compared with 28.9 per cent in Asia and 25.7 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean. While affordability has improved in many parts of the world, it has continued to deteriorate across Africa.
The report also found that Africa has overtaken Asia as the region with the highest number of hungry people. It estimated that about 309 million Africans, representing 20 per cent of the continent's population, experienced hunger in 2025, compared with 292 million in Asia and 32 million in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Globally, between 608 million and 696 million people were estimated to have faced hunger in 2025, with the midpoint estimate standing at 645 million. This represents a decline of 14 million from 2024 and 43 million from 2022, largely due to the gradual recovery from the economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the improvement, the UN warned that conflicts, climate change, extreme weather events and declining humanitarian funding remain major threats to global food security and could reverse recent gains. It projected that although global hunger could decline by about 20 per cent by 2030, between 510 million and 520 million people would still be undernourished, with Africa expected to account for more than half of the global total.
The report further noted that Africa recorded its first improvement in food insecurity levels since 2015, with the proportion of hungry people dropping marginally from 20.3 per cent in 2024 to 20 per cent in 2025. However, rapid population growth meant the absolute number of people facing hunger continued to increase.
It added that about 2.1 billion people, representing 25.8 per cent of the world's population, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025, down from 27.1 per cent in 2024 and 28.7 per cent in 2020. Rural communities and women remained the most vulnerable groups.
The report was jointly produced by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organisation (WHO). The agencies called for sustained investments in food systems, climate resilience and social protection to improve access to affordable, nutritious diets worldwide.
