Global food security strengthens in 2025 with rising incomes and easing food inflation

Food security is estimated to improve in 2025 compared to 2024 in most of the 83 countries included in the Global Food Assessment (GFA), published annually by USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS). The assessment estimates food demand in 83 low- and middle-income countries to evaluate where individuals are unable to afford sufficient calories for a healthy and active lifestyle. The report also identifies countries where demand cannot be met with domestic production alone and U.S. agrifood products could help fill gaps in demand. In 2025, per capita incomes in the GFA countries are projected to grow by 3.7 percent, and food price inflation in most assessed countries is expected to ease. With this improved food access, the number of food-insecure people is estimated to decrease by more than 26 percent (220.5 million people) in the GFA countries to 604.2 million people, or 13.5 percent of the population, in 2025. In the Asia region, the prevalence of food insecurity is estimated to fall by nearly half from 15.4 percent in 2024 to 8.1 percent in 2025, associated with a 4.9-percent increase in per capita GDP and lower domestic prices for rice, a staple grain in the region. However, food insecurity in 2025 is estimated to be disproportionately concentrated in select countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, such as Sudan, South Sudan, and Haiti. Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to have the highest number (332.3 million) and share (26.9 percent) of food-insecure people in 2025 among the regions covered in the GFA. This chart appears in the ERS report, Global Food Assessment, 2025–35, released in September 2025.