Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (IDA & IBRD)'s prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population (%) was 42.75% in 2024, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 14.44 percentage points from 28.31% in 2014.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 42.75% | 2024 |
| Five years earlier | 29.52% | 2019 |
| Ten years earlier | 28.31% | 2014 |
| Highest | 42.75% | 2024 |
| Lowest | 28.29% | 2017 |
| Average since 2015 | 35.52% | 2015–2024 |
| First recorded | 28.31% | 2014 |
What the numbers say
In 2024, Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (IDA & IBRD)'s prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population (%) rose 0.47 percentage points on 2023 (from 42.28% to 42.75%).
Across the 9 yearly changes before that (2015 to 2023), the average change was +1.55 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.52 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 10.4 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.75 percentage points in 2019. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is upward, about 2.06 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 83% of the movement over 10 observed years.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
See how every economy compares in the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (IDA & IBRD) | 42.75% | 2024 |
| World | 27.99% | 2024 |
What this measures
The percentage of people in the population who live in households classified as moderately or severely food insecure. A household is classified as moderately or severely food insecure when at least one adult in the household has reported to have been exposed, at times during the year, to low quality diets and might have been forced to also reduce the quantity of food they would normally eat because of a lack of money or other resources.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a population-weighted average.
All 11 values
| Year | Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population (%) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 42.75 |
| 2023 | 42.28 |
| 2022 | 42.23 |
| 2021 | 42.56 |
| 2020 | 39.93 |
| 2019 | 29.52 |
| 2018 | 30.27 |
| 2017 | 28.29 |
| 2016 | 28.98 |
| 2015 | 28.4 |
| 2014 |
Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population (%) in nearby economies
- Afghanistan — 77.8% (2024)
- Algeria — 17.6% (2024)
- Egypt, Arab Rep. — 29.9% (2024)
- Iran, Islamic Rep. — 37.7% (2024)
- Israel — 8.9% (2024)
- Kuwait — 9.4% (2024)
- Libya — 31.6% (2024)
- Malta — 9% (2024)
- Pakistan
More health data for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (IDA & IBRD)
- Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 10.88% (2025)
- Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 11.14% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, female — 119.33 million (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 32.26% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, male — 125 million (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 33.02% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, total
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (IDA & IBRD)'s prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population (%)?
- 42.75% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 2014?
- It is up 14.44 percentage points from 28.31% in 2014. The highest value was 42.75% in 2024 and the lowest 28.29% in 2017.
- Is the latest change in prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population (%) unusual for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (IDA & IBRD)?
- In 2024, Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan (IDA & IBRD)'s prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population (%) rose 0.47 percentage points on 2023 (from 42.28% to 42.75%). Across the 9 yearly changes before that (2015 to 2023), the average change was +1.55 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.52 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SN.ITK.MSFI.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.
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