WFP puts 17.4 million Afghans on course for severe food insecurity

8 October 2026

The World Food Programme records that 17.4 million people in Afghanistan are projected to be severely food insecure.
It expects 4.9 million mothers and children to be malnourished in 2026.
Twelve provinces are at critical levels of acute child malnutrition, the highest number on record.
WFP puts Afghanistan's population at 46 million, and says women and children make up 80 per cent of those reached by its emergency response.
The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) provides access to over a dozen hard-to-reach locations and serves over 100 UN agencies, NGOs and partners, whose work assists more than 10 million people.
WFP's country strategic plan for Afghanistan runs from 2018 to 2027, and the agency says its funding has declined sharply, severely hampering operations.