UN’s SOFI 2025 Report: India Grapples with Malnutrition Crisis Amid Global Hunger Decline

New Delhi: The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2025 report, released on July 28, 2025, by the United Nations, paints a complex picture of global and India-specific challenges in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2—ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition by 2030. Jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP), and World Health Organization (WHO), the SOFI report, launched in 1999, serves as the definitive global monitoring tool for tracking hunger and nutrition trends. This year’s report reveals a modest global decline in hunger but underscores persistent challenges, particularly in India, where child malnutrition, anaemia among women, and the rising cost of healthy diets remain critical concerns.

Global Hunger and Nutrition Trends in 2024

The SOFI 2025 report highlights a slight improvement in global hunger, with the prevalence dropping from 8.5% in 2023 to 8.2% in 2024, affecting approximately 720 million people worldwide. Despite this progress, hunger remains above pre-pandemic levels, with 96 million more people chronically hungry compared to 2015, when the 2030 Agenda was launched. Additionally, 2.3 billion people faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2024, a staggering increase of 335 million since 2019 and 683 million since 2015.

Food price inflation, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, has driven up the global cost of a healthy diet. In 2024, 2.60 billion people—down from 2.76 billion in 2019—could not afford a healthy diet due to rising food prices throughout 2023 and 2024. The report also notes a troubling rise in adult obesity, climbing from 12.1% in 2012 to 15.8% in 2022, and an increase in anemia among women aged 15–49, signaling a double burden of malnutrition where undernutrition and obesity coexist.

Regional Disparities in Hunger

The report highlights stark regional differences. Africa bears the highest prevalence of hunger, with over one in five people (307 million) chronically undernourished. Asia accounts for the largest share of undernourished people at 323 million, largely due to its population size. Latin America and the Caribbean report 34 million affected individuals. While hunger has declined in Southeast Asia, Southern Asia, and South America, it continues to rise in most subregions of Africa and Western Asia. The report projects that by 2030, 512 million people (6% of the global population) may still face chronic hunger, with Africa accounting for 60% of the global burden and 17.6% of its own population affected. In contrast, Asia and Latin America are expected to reduce undernourishment to below 5%.

Key Global Recommendations

To address these challenges, the SOFI 2025 report recommends time-bound and targeted fiscal measures, such as temporary tax relief on essential goods and enhanced social protection programs. It also emphasizes aligning fiscal and monetary policies to stabilize markets and advocates for robust agricultural market information systems to manage price volatility and prevent speculation. These measures aim to mitigate the impact of rising food costs and improve access to nutritious diets globally.

India’s Nutrition Crisis in 2024

India’s nutrition situation, as detailed in the SOFI 2025 report, is alarming, with the country facing some of the world’s highest rates of child malnutrition, anaemia among women, and unaffordable healthy diets. Despite significant progress in reducing undernourishment, systemic challenges like poverty, inequality, and limited access to nutritious food continue to hinder progress.

Undernourishment in India

India has made notable strides in reducing undernourishment, with the number of undernourished people dropping from 243 million in 2006 to 172 million in 2024, representing 12% of the population. This marks a 30% decline since 2006. However, India still has the largest number of undernourished people globally, primarily due to its vast population. Globally, India ranks 48th out of 204 countries in undernourishment, but within Asia, it has the seventh-highest proportion, trailing behind countries like Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Jordan, and Timor-Leste. Undernourishment, defined as insufficient energy intake for a healthy and active life, remains a critical indicator of food insecurity in India.

Child Malnutrition: Wasting and Stunting

India leads the world in child wasting, with 18.7% of children under five (over 21 million) suffering from low weight-for-height in 2024. Wasting, a marker of acute undernutrition, is often caused by inadequate food quality or quantity and frequent illness, increasing the risk of mortality. The report also notes that 37.4 million children under five in India are stunted (low height-for-age), reflecting chronic undernutrition driven by poverty, poor maternal health, and frequent illness. India’s own NFHS-5 (2019–21) data aligns closely, reporting stunting at 35.5% and wasting at 19.3%.

Additionally, the number of overweight children under five has risen from 2.7 million in 2012 to 4.2 million in 2024, signaling the growing double burden of malnutrition in India, where undernutrition and overnutrition coexist.

Anaemia Among Women

The SOFI 2025 report highlights a sharp rise in anaemia among women aged 15–49, with 53.7% (203 million) affected in 2023, up from 50.1% (164 million) in 2012. India ranks fourth globally in anemia prevalence, behind Gabon, Mali, and Mauritania, and has the highest prevalence in Asia. Anaemia, characterized by low red blood cell count or reduced haemoglobin, impairs oxygen delivery, leading to fatigue, weakness, and poor physical performance. This rise underscores systemic issues like poverty, inequality, and limited access to nutritious food, healthcare, and education, particularly among marginalized communities.

Rising Obesity and the Double Burden

India’s adult obesity has more than doubled in a decade, from 33.6 million in 2012 to 71.4 million in 2024. This surge, coupled with high rates of undernutrition, highlights India’s double burden of malnutrition. The coexistence of hunger and obesity is driven by economic disparities, changing dietary patterns, and sedentary lifestyles, increasing the risk of diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Affordability of Healthy Diets

The affordability of healthy diets remains a significant barrier, with 42.9% of India’s population unable to afford one in 2024. The cost of a healthy diet has risen sharply from $2.77 PPP per person per day in 2017 to $4.07 in 2024, driven by high food prices, poverty, and inequality. Excluding India, the report notes an increasing trend in lower-middle-income countries in the number of people unable to afford healthy diets, underscoring India’s unique challenges.

Positive Developments

Amid these challenges, the report highlights a success story in Kerala, where mobile phone adoption by fishermen and wholesalers has reduced price dispersion and waste, improving market efficiency and food access. This example underscores the potential of technology to address food security challenges.

Malnutrition: Definitions and Impacts

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines malnutrition as deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in nutrient intake or utilization. It manifests in four forms of undernutrition—wasting, stunting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies—and includes obesity/overweight and diet-related NCDs. Key definitions include:

• Wasting: Low weight-for-height, indicating recent or severe weight loss due to poor diet or illness.
• Stunting: Low height-for-age, caused by chronic undernutrition, impairing physical and cognitive development.
• Underweight: Low weight-for-age, reflecting stunting, wasting, or both.
• Micronutrient Deficiencies: Lack of essential vitamins and minerals (e.g., iron, vitamin A, iodine), affecting immunity, growth, and bodily functions.
• Obesity/Overweight: Excessive calorie intake and fat accumulation, increasing risks of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
• Diet-related NCDs: Conditions like heart attacks and strokes linked to unhealthy diets and poor nutrition.

India’s Government Initiatives to Combat Malnutrition

India has implemented several schemes to address malnutrition and food insecurity, including:

• Mid-Day Meal Scheme: Provides free, nutritious meals to school children to improve nutrition and school attendance.
• National Food Security Act, 2013: Ensures subsidized food grains for eligible rural and urban populations.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan (2018): Reduces malnutrition among children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers through a convergent approach.
• Anganwadi Services (ICDS): Delivers supplementary nutrition, immunization, and health check-ups to children (0–6 years), pregnant women, and lactating mothers.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY): Offers cash incentives to pregnant and lactating women to improve health and compensate for wage loss.
• Mission Poshan 2.0: Enhances nutrition delivery through technology and community-based efforts.
• Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB): Reduces anaemia through iron and folic acid supplementation and behavioral change.
• Poshan Vatika: Encourages households to grow organic fruits and vegetables for improved nutrition and food diversity.

Conclusion and Path Forward

The SOFI 2025 report underscores India’s dual burden of malnutrition, with high rates of child wasting (18.7%), stunting (37.4 million), anaemia among women (53.7%), and obesity (71.4 million), despite a 30% decline in undernourishment since 2006. While global hunger has slightly decreased to 8.2%, India’s challenges—driven by poverty, inequality, and rising food costs—require urgent action. The report’s recommendations, including targeted fiscal measures and robust market information systems, offer a roadmap for progress. India’s government schemes, combined with innovative solutions like Kerala’s mobile phone adoption, provide hope for addressing these systemic issues. Achieving SDG-2 by 2030 will demand sustained efforts to improve access to nutritious food, healthcare, and education, particularly for marginalized communities.

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