World Food Day data put global food waste at 1.05 billion tonnes and world hunger at 645 million people

17 October 2026

On World Food Day, 16 October 2026, with the theme Innovate today, nourish tomorrow, compiled United Nations data set out the scale of global hunger and food waste.
The United Nations annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report says 645 million people, or 7.8 per cent of the world population, were hungry in 2025, down from 8.1 per cent in 2024 and a peak of 8.6 per cent in 2022, but about 61 million more than in 2019.
Africa has 309 million undernourished people, about one in five, and nearly half the world's hungry; Asia has 292 million and Latin America and the Caribbean 32 million.
United Nations Environment Programme data for 2022 show shops, restaurants and households wasted about 1.05 billion tonnes of food, almost a fifth of the food available to consumers; households accounted for 60 per cent, restaurants and food services 28 per cent and shops 12 per cent.
The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about 13 per cent of food is lost after harvest and before reaching shops, worth over 400 billion dollars a year.
The global average waste is about 132 kg per person a year, of which 79 kg is wasted at home; the Maldives is highest at about 260 kg per person and Spain among the lowest at about 39 kg or less.
Food loss and waste costs the global economy more than one trillion dollars a year, uses about 1.4 billion hectares or 28 per cent of the world's agricultural land, and generates an estimated 8 to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.