Data for 2020

Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity, 2020

2020, as FAO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity, 2020 covers 143 countries on 6 measures. Central African Republic is highest, at 88.1; Belarus is lowest, at 1.4. The middle country reads 25.3. Against 2019, 124 values changed (84 up, 40 down), 10 countries joined, 2 left.

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Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity · Data for 2020

HighestCentral African Republic

88.1

LowestBelarus

1.4

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end. A higher value is the worse result.

143countries
6measures per country
2020the year it describes
131distinct values1 decimal, as published
Oct 3, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity, 2020, as published. FAO ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 143 countries · select a heading to sort

Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity, 2020: every country, as published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
derived
1	Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa	88.1	86.6	89.7	88.1	88.1	4.4
2	Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa	86.7	84.7	88.8	87.4	86.1	6.9
3	South SudanSSDEastern Africa	86.4	85.2	87.7	86.4	86.4	9.2
4	HaitiHTICaribbean	82.5	78.1	86.8	82.5	82.4	9.3
5	MalawiMWIEastern Africa	81.3	79.8	82.7	81.9	80.6	15.9
6	LiberiaLBRWestern Africa	80.6	77.1	84.1	81.9	79.3	4.2
7	ComorosCOMEastern Africa	79.7	74.7	84.7	80.0	79.5	0.6
8	AngolaAGOMiddle Africa	78.0	77.0	79.0	80.9	75.1	26.1
9	ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa	73.0	68.8	77.2	74.7	71.3	11.3
10	DR CongoCODMiddle Africa	72.3	70.1	74.5	71.8	72.7	69.4
11	ChadTCDMiddle Africa	72.2	69.3	75.1	74.0	70.5	12.5
12	AfghanistanAFGSouthern Asia	70.1	67.2	72.9	78.2	62.0	27.3
13	UgandaUGAEastern Africa	69.8	67.3	72.2	67.8	71.7	31.0
14	KenyaKENEastern Africa	69.5	67.9	71.1	74.1	64.9	36.3
15	NigeriaNGAWestern Africa	62.9	60.1	65.8	64.6	61.3	134.7
16	Guinea-BissauGNBWestern Africa	62.3	59.9	64.7	62.3	62.3	1.3
17	BeninBENWestern Africa	61.9	60.0	63.9	62.4	61.5	8.1
18	MadagascarMDGEastern Africa	61.1	58.7	63.5	64.2	58.0	17.7
19	EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa	59.4	55.9	63.0	60.2	58.7	0.7
20	YemenYEMWestern Asia	58.5	54.6	62.4	62.4	54.6	21.1
21	GambiaGMBWestern Africa	58.0	55.0	61.0	56.5	59.5	1.5
22	NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa	57.9	55.5	60.3	60.2	55.7	1.6
23	TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa	57.6	55.4	59.8	56.7	58.6	35.1
24	CameroonCMRMiddle Africa	56.5	52.2	60.7	56.3	56.7	14.8
25	EthiopiaETHEastern Africa	56.2	52.3	60.2	54.8	57.7	66.9
26	GuatemalaGTMCentral America	55.8	52.9	58.8	61.8	50.0	9.7
27	BotswanaBWASouthern Africa	55.6	51.7	59.5	59.7	51.4	1.3
28	TogoTGOWestern Africa	54.7	52.2	57.2	53.0	56.4	4.3
29	São Tomé and PríncipeSTPMiddle Africa	54.6	50.5	58.8	56.2	53.0	0.1
30	Timor-LesteTLSSouth-eastern Asia	53.7	51.7	55.7	53.7	53.7	0.7
31	Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean	53.1	49.9	56.3	56.7	49.6	5.8
32	LesothoLSOSouthern Africa	52.3	50.3	54.3	50.6	54.0	1.2
33	ZambiaZMBEastern Africa	51.8	49.6	53.9	51.7	51.7	9.9
34	JamaicaJAMCaribbean	50.3	45.5	55.0	55.2	45.4	1.4
35	NigerNERWestern Africa	50.2	47.8	52.5	50.8	49.6	11.9
36	DjiboutiDJIEastern Africa	49.2	43.2	55.3	49.2	49.3	0.5
37	HondurasHNDCentral America	48.4	48.2	48.6	51.9	45.0	4.9
38	El SalvadorSLVCentral America	46.5	43.1	49.9	52.0	41.0	2.9
39	MauritaniaMRTWestern Africa	45.3	43.4	47.3	43.3	47.4	2.1
40	IranIRNSouthern Asia	42.4	39.6	45.2	41.5	43.3	37.2
41	CambodiaKHMSouth-eastern Asia	41.9	38.5	45.3	44.5	39.3	7.0
42	KiribatiKIRMicronesia	41.0	36.8	45.2	41.0	41.0	—
43	Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa	40.4	38.6	42.2	40.3	40.4	11.7
=44	Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa	40.1	36.6	43.7	38.6	41.6	8.6
=44	PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia	40.1	38.7	41.4	39.6	40.4	44.9
46	LibyaLBYNorthern Africa	39.4	36.2	42.5	46.2	32.5	2.8
47	GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia	38.8	35.7	41.9	41.8	35.8	1.5
48	NepalNPLSouthern Asia	37.8	34.9	40.8	37.1	38.6	11.0
49	ArgentinaARGSouth America	36.9	33.3	40.6	42.3	31.7	16.7
50	EcuadorECUSouth America	36.8	33.4	40.2	39.2	34.5	6.4
51	GhanaGHAWestern Africa	36.6	34.6	38.6	38.3	34.8	11.7
52	SurinameSURSouth America	35.9	30.6	41.1	40.4	31.3	0.2
53	Cabo VerdeCPVWestern Africa	35.4	31.3	39.5	35.4	35.4	0.2
54	DominicaDMACaribbean	34.4	30.6	38.3	34.4	34.4	—
55	PeruPERSouth America	34.0	33.3	34.8	37.9	30.2	11.2
56	LaosLAOSouth-eastern Asia	31.8	28.5	35.1	34.3	29.4	2.3
=57	BelizeBLZCentral America	31.6	27.9	35.2	31.6	31.6	0.1
=57	SenegalSENWestern Africa	31.6	29.3	34.0	28.0	35.3	5.3
59	BarbadosBRBCaribbean	31.1	26.6	35.6	32.6	29.6	—
60	AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe	30.9	28.0	33.9	34.3	27.5	0.9
61	ColombiaCOLSouth America	30.5	29.7	31.3	34.6	26.4	15.4
62	BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia	30.3	27.9	32.7	32.0	28.5	50.3
63	TajikistanTJKCentral Asia	30.2	26.8	33.5	32.2	28.2	2.9
64	NauruNRUMicronesia	29.9	26.0	33.8	29.9	29.9	—
65	LebanonLBNWestern Asia	29.1	26.5	31.6	29.8	28.3	1.7
66	MauritiusMUSEastern Africa	28.2	25.1	31.4	29.3	27.2	0.4
67	TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa	28.0	24.9	31.2	28.4	27.7	3.4
68	EgyptEGYNorthern Africa	27.3	24.9	29.7	29.0	25.6	29.8
69	PakistanPAKSouthern Asia	25.8	25.5	26.1	27.8	23.8	60.6
=70	MexicoMEXCentral America	25.5	24.7	26.2	30.5	20.4	32.3
=70	MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia	25.5	22.5	28.5	26.3	24.7	13.5
72	ParaguayPRYSouth America	25.3	22.2	28.5	26.0	24.6	1.7
73	MoldovaMDAEastern Europe	24.9	22.4	27.4	28.7	21.2	0.8
74	VanuatuVUTMelanesia	23.3	21.1	25.5	23.3	23.3	—
75	UkraineUKREastern Europe	22.7	20.0	25.5	25.0	20.5	10.2
76	GrenadaGRDCaribbean	22.3	16.1	28.6	22.3	22.3	—
77	MaliMLIWestern Africa	21.9	18.3	25.5	22.1	21.7	4.8
78	SamoaWSMPolynesia	21.4	18.9	23.9	21.4	21.4	—
79	Saint Kitts and NevisKNACaribbean	21.1	15.7	26.4	—	—	—
80	North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe	20.9	18.5	23.3	22.0	19.9	0.4
81	TongaTONPolynesia	20.4	16.9	23.9	20.4	20.4	—
82	BrazilBRASouth America	19.4	18.9	19.9	23.0	15.8	40.5
83	FijiFJIMelanesia	19.3	16.1	22.4	19.3	19.3	0.2
=84	AlgeriaDZANorthern Africa	19.0	16.1	21.8	17.2	20.7	8.4
=84	South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa	19.0	17.9	20.1	20.7	17.3	11.5
86	ChileCHLSouth America	17.4	16.1	18.6	18.8	16.0	3.4
87	BahamasBHSCaribbean	17.2	13.4	21.1	17.0	17.4	—
88	Costa RicaCRICentral America	15.9	15.2	16.6	18.4	13.4	0.8
89	BulgariaBGREastern Europe	15.5	12.4	18.6	17.1	13.9	1.1
90	MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia	15.4	13.2	17.7	13.4	17.5	5.2
91	New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand	14.5	12.2	16.9	14.8	14.2	0.7
=92	SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe	14.1	11.4	16.7	14.3	13.9	1.2
=92	UruguayURYSouth America	14.1	13.0	15.2	16.7	11.6	0.5
94	MontenegroMNESouthern Europe	14.0	11.6	16.5	13.3	14.8	—
=95	MaldivesMDVSouthern Asia	13.4	10.8	15.9	13.2	13.5	—
=95	RomaniaROUEastern Europe	13.4	11.3	15.6	15.1	11.8	2.6
97	Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe	12.6	10.3	14.8	13.9	11.2	0.4
98	KuwaitKWTWestern Asia	12.2	10.3	14.0	10.9	13.5	0.5
99	AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand	11.9	10.0	13.9	12.0	11.9	3.1
100	PortugalPRTSouthern Europe	11.6	9.6	13.6	13.0	10.2	1.2
101	CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe	11.4	9.6	13.2	13.9	8.9	0.5
102	HungaryHUNEastern Europe	10.6	8.3	12.9	11.9	9.3	1.0
103	Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia	10.0	9.6	10.3	8.9	11.0	2.2
104	LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe	9.8	7.7	11.9	10.4	9.2	0.3
105	IsraelISRWestern Asia	9.7	8.0	11.3	9.1	10.3	0.9
106	AzerbaijanAZEWestern Asia	9.5	7.6	11.4	9.6	9.4	1.0
107	LatviaLVANorthern Europe	9.4	7.6	11.2	10.1	8.7	0.2
108	FinlandFINNorthern Europe	8.8	6.6	11.1	10.5	7.2	0.5
109	SpainESPSouthern Europe	8.6	6.9	10.4	9.7	7.6	4.1
110	ArmeniaARMWestern Asia	8.3	7.5	9.1	9.1	7.5	0.2
111	United StatesUSANorthern America	8.0	7.6	8.3	8.9	7.0	27.0
112	EstoniaESTNorthern Europe	7.9	5.5	10.3	8.3	7.4	0.1
113	SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe	7.7	6.4	9.0	8.6	6.8	0.4
114	VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia	7.6	6.8	8.4	8.7	6.6	7.5
=115	PolandPOLEastern Europe	7.4	5.9	9.0	9.1	5.7	2.8
=115	SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe	7.4	5.5	9.3	9.3	5.5	0.2
117	GreeceGRCSouthern Europe	6.8	4.9	8.6	7.6	5.9	0.7
118	KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia	6.6	6.6	6.7	6.9	6.4	0.4
=119	CanadaCANNorthern America	6.5	6.3	6.7	7.3	5.7	2.5
=119	IrelandIRLNorthern Europe	6.5	5.3	7.8	5.5	7.6	0.3
121	ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia	6.4	5.9	6.8	7.1	5.7	4.5
122	IcelandISLNorthern Europe	6.3	4.5	8.2	6.8	5.9	—
123	MongoliaMNGEastern Asia	6.2	5.4	7.0	6.4	6.0	0.2
124	FranceFRAWestern Europe	5.9	4.8	7.0	5.5	6.3	3.9
125	CzechiaCZEEastern Europe	5.8	4.3	7.2	6.2	5.4	0.6
=126	DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe	5.5	4.1	6.9	6.1	4.9	0.3
=126	RussiaRUSEastern Europe	5.5	4.7	6.3	5.4	5.6	8.1
=128	South KoreaKOREastern Asia	5.3	3.9	6.8	4.3	6.4	2.8
=128	SwedenSWENorthern Europe	5.3	3.9	6.7	5.6	5.0	0.5
130	MaltaMLTSouthern Europe	5.2	4.0	6.4	6.4	4.1	—
131	IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia	5.1	4.3	5.9	5.1	5.1	14.0
132	BelgiumBELWestern Europe	4.8	3.6	6.0	4.2	5.4	0.6
133	SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia	4.6	4.0	5.3	5.0	4.2	0.3
134	NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe	4.4	3.0	5.8	4.4	4.4	0.8
135	NorwayNORNorthern Europe	4.3	2.7	5.9	4.1	4.6	0.2
136	JapanJPNEastern Asia	3.8	2.6	5.0	2.9	4.6	4.8
=137	GermanyDEUWestern Europe	3.5	2.3	4.6	3.3	3.6	2.9
=137	United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe	3.5	2.6	4.3	3.5	3.4	2.3
139	AustriaAUTWestern Europe	3.3	2.3	4.4	3.6	3.1	0.3
=140	KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia	2.8	1.8	3.9	2.9	2.8	0.6
=140	LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe	2.8	1.9	3.7	2.8	2.9	—
142	SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe	2.2	1.5	2.9	1.8	2.5	0.2
143	BelarusBLREastern Europe	1.4	1.0	1.8	1.6	1.2	0.1

02In 2020

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

Lowest

143Belarus1.4
142Switzerland2.2
140Luxembourgshared2.8
140Kazakhstanshared2.8
139Austria3.3

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 25.3. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

90% confidence interval, lower bound (%)
HighestCentral African Republic86.6
LowestBelarus1.0
Middle country: 22.4
90% confidence interval, upper bound (%)
HighestCentral African Republic89.7
LowestBelarus1.8
Middle country: 27.4
Women aged 15 and over (%)
HighestCentral African Republic88.1
LowestBelarus1.6
Middle country: 27.1
Men aged 15 and over (%)
HighestCentral African Republic88.1
LowestBelarus1.2
Middle country: 23.6
People in moderate or severe food insecurity (millions)
HighestNigeria134.7
Lowest4 share it
Middle country: 2.8

032019 → 2020

Since 2019

What changed between 2019 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+10 / −2countries joined / left
124values changed, of 133 in both
84 · 40rose · fell
9unchanged

Rose most

Nigeria53.5 → 62.9+9.4
Yemen49.4 → 58.5+9.1
Lebanon21.1 → 29.1+8.0
Afghanistan63.1 → 70.1+7.0
Guatemala49.6 → 55.8+6.2

Fell most

Chad75.9 → 72.2−3.7
Armenia11.7 → 8.3−3.4
Uganda73.1 → 69.8−3.3
Albania33.8 → 30.9−2.9
Tonga23.2 → 20.4−2.8

+ Bahamas

+ Barbados

+ Central African Republic

+ Comoros

+ Djibouti

+ Dominica

+ Nauru

+ São Tomé and Príncipe

+ Suriname

+ Eswatini

− Papua New Guinea

− Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from FAO’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 2020.
131 distinct values among 143
Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 2 countries share 40.1. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The position is ours
FAO publishes values only. The order here sorts the published values, and the page says so wherever it prints one.
Which end is better
A higher value is the worse result.
17 empty cells
An empty cell means the publisher gave no figure. It is never a zero.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
143 rows · 7.1 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download food-insecurity-2020-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
FAO’s own file, on its own site.
Food_Security_Data_E_All_Data_(Normalized).zip

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 4.0. Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.

Cite this edition

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2020). Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity, 2020 [data set], describing 2020. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/food-insecurity/2020

0610 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity, 2019
135 countries
The year after ›
Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity, 2021
145 countries
All of them
Prevalence of Moderate or Severe Food Insecurity: every year
10 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions