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FAO · Prevalence of Severe Food Insecurity
Severe food insecurity by country
What share of people ran out of food or went a day without eating?
Of the 133 countries compared in 2023, 7 countries shared the lowest reading, 0.0%, and South Sudan had the highest reading, 63.1%. In the middle country the figure was 4.7%. Among the 94 countries measured in every edition since 2015, the middle one moved from 3.2% to 3.9%.
Severe food insecurity · 2023
Key statistic · Health & Wellbeing
7 countries share the lowest value, 0.0% — no single country is named first.
012023 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 133 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
Lowest in 2023 · shared
7 countries share the lowest reading, 0.0%
No single country is named first: picking one from a shared value would be a choice the data does not make.
Highest in 2023
South Sudan63.1%
Malawi55.6%
Haiti45.4%
Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
Lowest on each continent
- Africa
Mali2.6% - Americas
United States1.0% - Asia
3 countries share 0.0%
- Europe
4 countries share 0.0%
- Oceania
Australia3.7% - Every region
02Every measured country
Severe food insecurity on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 17.2–63.1%
- 6.3–16.5%
- 3.3–6.2%
- 1.5–3.1%
- 0.0–1.4%
- No reading in 2023 (23 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
1.9%
the middle country, of 39 measured · 49 members
4 share 0.0%
Albania8.4%Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Asia
3.4%
the middle country, of 29 measured · 52 members
3 share 0.0%
Afghanistan31.0%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Oceania
4.5%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 21 members
Australia3.7%
Palau6.9%Lowest and highest reading in Oceania.
- Americas
5.0%
the middle country, of 21 measured · 48 members
United States1.0%Haiti45.4%Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Africa
17.8%
the middle country, of 39 measured · 55 members
Mali2.6%South Sudan63.1%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Every region
21 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Western Asia
1.3%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 19 members
2 share 0.0%
Lebanon10.1%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
- Western Europe
1.5%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Luxembourg0.6%2 share 2.7%
Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Southern Europe
1.6%
the middle country, of 12 measured · 17 members
Italy0.0%Albania8.4%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- Eastern Europe
1.9%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
3 share 0.0%
Romania7.0%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Northern Europe
2.1%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Estonia1.1%
United Kingdom3.3%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- South-eastern Asia
3.5%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 11 members
Indonesia0.0%
Myanmar7.2%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- South America
4.9%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 12 members
Uruguay2.7%
Peru14.5%Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Western Africa
9.7%
the middle country, of 14 measured · 16 members
Mali2.6%
Liberia37.1%Lowest and highest reading in Western Africa.
- Southern Asia
10.1%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 9 members
Sri Lanka1.1%Afghanistan31.0%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
- Caribbean
12.4%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 24 members
Antigua and Barbuda3.4%Haiti45.4%Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- Central America
15.4%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 8 members
Costa Rica2.7%
Guatemala21.3%Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- Eastern Africa
20.9%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 19 members
Mauritius12.2%South Sudan63.1%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Southern Africa
24.7%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
South Africa8.5%
Namibia30.0%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
Australia3.7%
New Zealand4.3%Lowest and highest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Central Asia
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
Kazakhstan0.6%
Tajikistan5.6%Lowest and highest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Asia
3 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Japan, Mongolia, South Korea.
Mongolia0.7%2 share 1.1%
Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Micronesia
2 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati, Palau.
Kiribati5.8%Palau6.9%Lowest and highest reading in Micronesia.
- Middle Africa
3 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Cameroon, Chad, DR Congo.
Cameroon24.7%
DR Congo42.5%Lowest and highest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern Africa
4 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia.
Algeria4.9%
Libya17.2%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States1.0%
Canada1.9%Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa.
Samoa4.5%Lowest and highest reading in Polynesia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
133 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 4.7%; a quarter are above 13.1%, and a quarter below 1.9%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 156 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first — position 1 is the highest value, the way FAO’s own tables read. “=” marks a position shared with another country. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. It asks people, where the prevalence of undernourishment calculates from national food supply. The two measure hunger from opposite ends and will not agree for any given country; both are here precisely because neither is the whole answer.
Showing 25 of 156 countries
Values for 2023. The change column compares 2023 with 2022 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052015–2023 · 9 reference years
Over time
Each point is one reference year from 2015.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 94 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 133 | 4.7% | 1.9% – 13.1% | 3.9% |
| 2022 | 144 | 5.4% | 2.0% – 13.2% | 4.3% |
| 2021 | 145 | 5.7% | 1.8% – 13.1% | 4.5% |
| 2020 | 143 | 5.6% | 1.6% – 13.3% | 4.1% |
| 2019 | 135 | 4.5% | 1.4% – 11.1% | 4.0% |
| 2018 | 121 | 3.9% | 1.1% – 10.0% | 3.6% |
| 2017 | 114 | 3.6% | 1.1% – 11.1% | 3.3% |
| 2016 | 99 | 3.3% | 1.3% – 12.1% | 3.3% |
| 2015 | 98 | 3.3% | 1.3% – 10.3% | 3.2% |
062022 → 2023
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → afterWorsened most
before → after
Eswatini18.6% → 22.2% · 27th → 19th+3.6- Haiti42.4% → 45.4% · 4th → 3rd+3.0
Madagascar14.9% → 17.8% · 33rd → 25th+2.9- Malawi53.5% → 55.6% · 3rd → 2nd+2.1
- Mauritius10.2% → 12.2% · 45th → 37th+2.0
131 countries were measured in both 2022 and 2023. The field changed from 144 to 133 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Severe food insecurity in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
65.4%
Population in severe food insecurity (%)
Lowest reading on record
Reached 56 times by 16 countries — shared, so no holder is named
0.0%
Population in severe food insecurity (%)
Biggest improvement between editions
−5.7
38.4% → 32.7%
Biggest decline between editions
+5.8
22.6% → 28.4%
Most improved since first measured
−10.4
35.5% → 25.1%
08The measure
About severe food insecurity
Severe food insecurity is the share of people who ran out of food, or went a whole day without eating, at some point in the year. The FAO gets it by asking them — the Food Insecurity Experience Scale — which makes it the human counterpart to its supply-based undernourishment estimate.
What the number is: Population in severe food insecurity (%).
What it does not measure
It records people's own reports of running out of food, not their nutrition; a child can be poorly nourished in a household that never ran out.
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
A key statistic for Health & Wellbeing
“The share of people who went without food, established by asking them rather than by modelling the supply.”
- Edition used
- 2023 (data 2023)
- Countries
- 133
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
Moves with
Where severe food insecurity is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Prevalence of UndernourishmentFAO · 124 countries in commonρ 0.82
- Coefficient of Human InequalityUNDP Human Development Report Office · 125 countries in commonρ 0.78
- Under-Five Mortality RateKeyUN IGME · 133 countries in commonρ 0.78
Moves against
Where severe food insecurity is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Ecological FootprintKeyGlobal Footprint Network · 96 countries in commonρ −0.76
- Inequality-adjusted Human Development IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office · 125 countries in commonρ −0.76
- Human Capital IndexWorld Bank Group · 130 countries in commonρ −0.76
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 105 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Analysis
Charts and analysis on severe food insecurity
11Keep reading
Explore further
The countries at either end
12Questions
Severe food insecurity: questions and answers
Which country has the lowest severe food insecurity?
7 countries share the lowest reading, 0.0%, among the 133 compared in 2023, so no single country is named.
Which country has the highest severe food insecurity?
South Sudan, at 63.1%, among the 133 countries compared in 2023.
How many countries does the Prevalence of Severe Food Insecurity cover?
133 in 2023, and 156 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 98 to 145 between editions.
What is the world average severe food insecurity?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 133 compared in 2023, the figure was 4.7%.
Is this Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s own ranking?
No. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Prevalence of Severe Food Insecurity published?
This site holds 9 reference years, 2015–2023, all recalculated in Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s 2026 report on one method — not 9 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under CC BY 4.0. From the FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale via the World Bank’s indicator API (SN.ITK.SVFI.ZS). Coverage is partial and uneven — a country absent from an edition was not surveyed, which is not the same as having no hunger. Every edition is available on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, unrounded.
13Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Prevalence of Severe Food Insecurity — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
From the FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale via the World Bank’s indicator API (SN.ITK.SVFI.ZS). Coverage is partial and uneven — a country absent from an edition was not surveyed, which is not the same as having no hunger.
Newest edition
Report year 2023Data year 2023
Cite the source as: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAOSTAT. Rome: FAO.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-06.
How this page reads the numbers
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The full note on this data
9 reference years (2015–2023), covering 98 to 145 countries, from the FAO’s Food Insecurity Experience Scale via the World Bank’s indicator API (SN.ITK.SVFI.ZS). The share of people who ran out of food, or went a whole day without eating, at some point in the year. ⚠ IT ASKS PEOPLE, where the prevalence of undernourishment CALCULATES from national food supply. The two measure hunger from opposite ends and will not agree for any given country; both are on this site precisely because neither is the whole answer. ⚠ Coverage is partial and uneven — a country absent from an edition was not surveyed, which is not the same as having no hunger. ⚠ These are not separate published reports — `restatedByReport` names the World Development Indicators release they were pulled from. ⚠ ⚠ A statistic, not an index: no rank is published. A POSITION is derived here (2026-09-10) by ordering the score, worst first; the indicator still sits outside the Country Index. ⚠ Seven countries report 0% and share position 127, the last one of 133.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Severe food insecurity by country: Prevalence of Severe Food Insecurity, data from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/severe-food-insecurity