Sudan, Palestine, South Sudan, Mali, and Haiti are all at immediate risk of starvation and famine, said a new report from the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization published June 16.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are both part of the United Nations. Twice a year, the organizations publish the "Hunger Hotspots" report.
“This report makes it very clear: Hunger today is not a distant threat – it is a daily emergency for millions,” FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said in a release published by the United Nations.
“We must act now, and act together, to save lives and safeguard livelihoods. Protecting people’s farms and animals to ensure they can keep producing food where they are, even in the toughest and harshest conditions, is not just urgent – it is essential," added Qu.
Highest concern countries
The report identified Sudan, South Sudan, Palestine, Mali, and Haiti as the areas of highest concern.
Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, and Nigeria were labeled as "very high concern," and Burkina Faso, Chad, Somalia, and Syria were also noted as having the potential for widespread hunger and food insecurity.
Sudan had a confirmed famine in 2024, said the report. This is due in part to the ongoing conflict in the region, and limited humanitarian aid access.
"Around 24.6 million people were projected to face Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) levels of acute food insecurity, including 637,000 people facing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) through May 2025," said the report.
Conflict is further driving hunger in Palestine, South Sudan, Mali, and Haiti.
For Palestine, "the likelihood of famine in the Gaza Strip is growing as large-scale military operations hinder the ability to deliver vital food and non-food humanitarian assistance. In addition to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip, high food prices coupled with exhausted livelihoods and a commercial blockade will accelerate an economic collapse," said the report.
This includes the entire 2.1 million population of Gaza, which is "projected to face Crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) levels of acute food insecurity, with 470,000 projected to face Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) through September 2025."
In South Sudan, political tensions, along with environmental factors and economic issues, mean that about 57% of the population is "projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity."
Of those, about 63,000 people are "projected to face Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) levels of food insecurity.
Rising violence
While the majority of the countries highlighted in the Hunger Hotspots report are in Africa or the Middle East, one, Haiti, is located in the Caribbean.
The combination of "record levels of gang violence and insecurity" are resulting in the displacement of people and "crippling aid access," said the report.
"Over 8,400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) already facing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) levels of acute food insecurity in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area by June 2025," said the report.
