Some 645 million people will suffer from hunger in 2025, 7.8% of the world’s population – according to the United Nations – which indicates that we are still very far from reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is estimated that 520 million people could still suffer from hunger in 2030.
The president of Manos Unidas, Cecilia Pilar – quoting Pope Leo XIV – assures that “hunger can fuel conflicts and that conflicts cause more hunger.” And he adds that “using hunger as a weapon of war leads to huge numbers of people succumbing to the scourge of starvation and perishing.” And he asks himself, How is it possible that the world faces impassively the challenge posed by the hunger of 645 million people?
Manos Unidas talks about a spiral: hunger can fuel conflicts and conflicts cause more hunger
There is enough food, but the problem is that millions of people cannot access it. Manuel Sánchez-Montero, general director of Action Against Hunger in Spain, explains that this scourge “is a consequence of conflicts, poverty, inequalities and lack of opportunities, not of a global food shortage.” And remember that “defending peace also requires defending the right of all people to feed themselves, to live with dignity and to have a future.” That is the commitment of Manos Unidas: “to continue putting hunger at the center, denounce its causes and accompany those who suffer from it.”
We must continue putting hunger at the center
Two out of every three people suffering from extreme hunger are concentrated in 10 countries, according to Action Against Hunger
In the focus, territories such as South Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia or Gaza. The case of the Strip, as Esperanza Santos of Doctors Without Borders admits, is especially bloody. In Gaza what has been done “is a more macabre use of hunger and food.” He regrets that it is a spiral of injustices. “People are hungry, they are desperate and the moment they can access food they are either murdered or even have to be beaten and killed” to get it.
In Gaza macabre use of hunger has been made
Humanitarian organizations are aware that there will be no lasting peace while millions of people cannot feed themselves with dignity, because protecting livelihoods means preventing conflicts. In fact, according to data managed by Manos Unidas, more than half of those who suffer from severe hunger are due to a conflict or war.
Conflicts have become the first cause of food crises
The data for 2025 are devastating. Nearly 9 in 10 of those forcibly displaced lived in countries or territories with food crises. Around 2.1 billion people suffered moderate or severe food insecurity last year. And 266 million presented high levels of acute food insecurity in 47 countries and territories: close to 23% of the population analyzed and almost double that of a decade ago. In addition, 35.5 million girls and boys had acute malnutrition and nearly 10 million children had severe acute malnutrition.
There is a setback after two decades of progress
In fact, according to the “Global Hunger Index 2026” report published in Spanish by Ayuda en Acción, the fight against hunger has taken a step back at a global level after almost 20 years of progress and is seriously and alarmingly affecting 44 countries. And the worst thing is that there is no sign of improvement.
