By Al Jazeera StaffPublished On 24 Apr 202624 Apr 2026Famine was confirmed in two places in 2025 – areas of the Gaza Strip and Sudan – the first such dual confirmation since formal famine reporting began, according to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2026.The annual report, produced by a coalition of 18 humanitarian and development partners, found that acute food insecurity remained widespread in 2025.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listAcross 47 countries and territories experiencing food crises, 22.9 percent of their populations – or about 266 million people – experienced acute food insecurity last year, a marginal rise from 22.7 percent in 2024 but nearly double the 11.3 percent recorded in 2016. The proportion of analysed populations facing acute hunger has now stayed above 20 percent every year since 2020. In absolute terms, the number of people affected has grown from 108 million in 2016 to 265.7 million in 2025, having peaked at 281.6 million in 2023.The GRFC cautioned that the slightly lower headline figure compared with 2024 mainly reflects a reduction in the number of countries covered – from 53 to 47 – rather than any real decline in needs.Famine, catastrophe and emergencyFamine – the most extreme classification under the hunger-monitoring Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system – was confirmed in parts of the Gaza Strip and Sudan in 2025. The risk of famine remained in other areas of Gaza, Sudan and South Sudan, and those projections extended into 2026.According to the IPC, famine is when:
At least 20 percent of households face extreme food shortages.
Acute malnutrition affects more than 30 percent of the population.
The death rate due to starvation or hunger-re …
