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The Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme released the Hunger Hotspots report on 17 June 2026, covering the outlook from June to November 2026.
It identifies 13 hunger hotspots where acute food insecurity is expected to worsen, with about 266 million people already facing high levels of acute food insecurity across them.
Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, Palestine, Northeast Nigeria and Somalia are the hotspots of highest concern.
Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti are classed as of very high concern, while Myanmar, Mali, Lebanon and Madagascar complete the list.
Armed conflict and violence remain the primary driver, affecting 12 of the 13 hotspots, and a risk of famine was identified in Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and the Gaza Strip.
A hunger hotspot is a country or territory where acute food insecurity is forecast to deteriorate significantly during a defined outlook period. The report is an early-warning product, not a declaration of famine: it identifies where conditions are expected to worsen so that assistance can be directed before the deterioration occurs. Severity is described using the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a five-phase scale in which Phase 3 denotes Crisis, Phase 4 Emergency and Phase 5 Catastrophe or Famine. A famine declaration requires specific thresholds of food consumption, acute malnutrition and mortality to be met in an area, which is a far higher bar than a warning of famine risk.
Simple Analogy: It works like a cyclone warning rather than a damage report. The forecast names the coastlines most likely to be hit in the coming months so that relief can be pre-positioned, but naming a coast is not the same as saying the storm has already landed.
United Nations specialised agency for food security and agriculture; co-publishes the Hunger Hotspots report and the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World
The United Nations food assistance agency; co-publishes Hunger Hotspots and delivers emergency food assistance in the hotspots identified
The report's findings are the clearest evidence that the 2030 target of ending hunger is off track, particularly in conflict-affected States.
Produced by the Global Network Against Food Crises, it provides the retrospective picture of acute food insecurity that Hunger Hotspots complements with a forward-looking warning.
The common scale used to classify severity, from Phase 1 Minimal to Phase 5 Catastrophe or Famine, and the basis on which famine risk is assessed.
A separate index published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe; often confused with FAO-WFP products in examinations because both rank hunger, though on different methodology and timescales.
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Food insecurity severe enough to threaten lives or livelihoods in the short term, regardless of its causes or duration.
The highest phase of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, denoting Catastrophe at household level and Famine when area-level thresholds are met.
A forecast issued before a crisis matures, intended to trigger anticipatory action rather than to record damage already done.