At least 18.2 million children were born into hunger in 2024, or about 35 children a minute, with conflict and climate crises combining to drive at least 800,000 more children into hunger over the year, according to a Save the Children analysis.
Analysis of U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data showed the number of children born into hunger rose by around 5% in 2024 compared to a year earlier and 19% more than the 15.3 million recorded in 2019 when progress on tackling childhood hunger began to stall. [1]
Conflict, displacement, extreme weather events, and the increasing relative cost of food have all contributed towards a decline in children’s nutrition globally.
Children born into hunger this year include babies born in countries facing a risk of famine or catastrophic conditions of acute food insecurity including South Sudan, Haiti, Mali and Sudan, where famine-levels of malnutrition have spread across half of the country’s 18 states. [2]
In addition, there was a warning in early November of a strong likelihood that famine was imminent or already underway in the northern Gaza Strip and 345,000 people across Gaza could face catastrophic hunger in the coming months.[3] The occupied Palestinian territory is not included in the annual FAO data on undernourishment,[4] but the warning came from the leading global authority on hunger, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
Hannah Stephenson, Global Head of Hunger and Nutrition at Save the Children, said:
“Over 18 million newborns this year – 35 children a minute – were born into a world where hunger is their reality from their first moments of life. Hunger knows no boundaries. It erodes childhoods, drains children’s energy and risks robbing them of their futures. Children should be free to play or expand their minds in class. No child should be worrying about when their next meal will be.
“We need immediate funding and safe access for humanitarian lifesaving services for children and families in desperate need of food, nutrition, healthcare, safe water, sanitation and hygiene, social protection and livelihoods support. We have the tools to significantly reduce the number of malnourished children right now, like we have in the past.
“However, if we do not tackle the root causes of hunger and malnutrition, we will continue to see the reversal of progress made for children.”
Children are always the most vulnerable in food crises and without enough to eat and the right nutritional balance, children are at high risk of becoming acutely malnourished. Malnutrition can cause stunting, impede mental and physical development, increase the risk of contracting deadly diseases, and ultimately cause death.
In countries where at least 20% of the population is facing hunger, the Democratic Repubilc of Congo (DRC) was expected to have the highest number of babies born undernourished this year at around 1.6 million with conflict remaining a key driver of hunger in the DRC and globally.
Climate shocks such as floods and droughts meanwhile increasingly threaten children’s access to food. More than 1.4 million babies were born into hunger in Pakistan, one of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries.[5] Pakistan saw the second highest number of babies born into hunger among countries with over 20% undernourishment.
Uzma*, 28, lives in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan and is struggling to feed her five children, including 17-month-old Inaaya*, who is malnourished, and twin girls who were born in November. Her husband runs a small shop but does not earn enough to support the family. Save the Children supports Uzma’s* family with nutrition and with information on how to improve their hygiene practices.
“With my husband’s limited income and the need to focus on Inaaya’s* recovery from malnutrition, it is very hard to ensure that all our children have enough to eat. Sometimes, our older boys don’t get as much food as they need or the most nutritious meals. It worries me that they might not be eating enough to grow strong and healthy.
“Our newborn twin daughters also have special needs, and meeting those adds to the pressure. The overall food situation for our family is very challenging, and it feels like an ongoing struggle to make sure all five children have enough to eat. As a mother, it hurts deeply to see my children go without [food].”
Despite its relatively small population, Madagascar also had one of the highest numbers of babies born into hunger in 2024.
Aina*, aged 6 months, was one of around 400,000 babies born into hunger in the island nation. Her mother, Genie*, faced difficulties caring for and feeding her daughter because of the high cost of food and lack of money. She fed Aina*, who is exclusively breastfed, only twice a day, before and after returning from work in the field.
“My habits had had an impact on her diet and Aina’s* weight. She got progressively thinner and often felt hot and irritable,” said Genie*.
Save the Children taught Genie* how to feed her daughter healthily using lower-priced, locally available food as well as the importance of frequent breastfeeding.
Save the Children is calling on world leaders to address the root causes of acute food and nutrition insecurity including working harder to reduce conflicts, tackling the climate crisis and global inequality, and by building more resilient health, nutrition and social protection systems.
The child rights organisation is also calling for greater collaboration, dialogue and investment across sectors to bolster response planning and implementation, as well as our abilities to act early and prevent predictable shocks from turning into crises.
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[1] For the analysis, Save the Children used data from the UN Population Prospects for 2024 and the latest country data on hunger from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), measured by undernourishment. The most recent published FAO country data used here is up until 2021-2023 as country data up to 2022-2024 has not yet been made publicly available. Data on prevalence of undernourishment is only available for the total population. In this analysis we estimate that the share of children affected by hunger is equivalent to the average of the total population, applying undernourishment rates to the number of births in each country. This likely underestimates the true effect as we would expect that poorer communities – in most countries home to proportionally more children – are more likely to be affected by hunger. According to the analysis, more than 21.5 million children were born into hunger in 2001. In 2018, the number dropped to about 14.5 million but then jumped up to 15.3 million in 2019. In 2024, there were an estimated 18.2 million undernourished births at a minimum.
[2] https://www.savethechildren.net/news/sudan-famine-crisis-worsens-children-show-physical-signs-starvation
[3] Gaza Strip: Acute Food Insecurity Situation for September – October 2024 and Projection for November 2024 – April 2025
[4] Country level data for oPt is not included in the FAO’s The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 from which the data in this release is taken.
[5] https://gain.nd.edu/our-work/country-index/rankings/
*Names changed for anonymity
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.
