State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2026

Syllabus: GS3/ Food Security

Context

• The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2026 report, highlights progress in reducing hunger in India while underscoring persistent challenges in ensuring access to affordable and nutritious diets.

Key Findings of the Report

• Global Scenario: An estimated 7.8 percent of the global population faced hunger in 2025, down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022. 
• Indian Scenario: 
  • Undernourished Population: Undernourishment fell to 142.5 million people (9.8% of the population) in 2023–2025, down from 243.9 million (21.1%) in 2004–2006.
  • Healthy Diet Cost: The cost of a healthy diet reached PPP $4.11 per person per day in 2025, a nearly 48% increase since 2017.
  • Affordability Crisis: Around 520.1 million people (35.5% of India’s population) could not afford a healthy diet in 2025.
  • Malnutrition Indicators: Child stunting declined to 32.9% and wasting stood at 18.7%, while childhood overweight, adult obesity, and women’s anaemia continued to rise.

Reasons Behind Nutritional Challenges

• High Cost of Nutritious Food: Rising prices of fruits, vegetables, pulses, milk and protein-rich foods.
• Income Constraints: Many households prioritize inexpensive calorie-rich staples over diverse diets.
• Dietary Imbalance: Excess dependence on cereals with inadequate intake of proteins and micronutrients.
• Poor Maternal Nutrition: High prevalence of anaemia contributes to intergenerational malnutrition.
• Regional and Social Inequalities: Tribal areas, remote regions and urban poor continue to face higher nutritional vulnerabilities.
• Changing Food Consumption Patterns: Increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods has contributed to rising obesity.

Government Initiatives

• Mid Day Meal Programme: The Programme aims to boost enrolment, retention, and attendance while improving the nutritional status of children in government, local body, and government-aided schools.
• Food Fortification: The government promotes fortified rice, wheat flour, and edible oils as part of the public distribution system.
• The National Food Security Act, 2013: The Act provides for coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population for receiving subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
• Poshan Tracker: The Ministry of Women and Child Development developed the Poshan Tracker ICT application as a key governance tool.
  • It uses WHO’s expanded tables with day-based z-scores to dynamically assess stunting, wasting, underweight, and obesity in children based on height, weight, gender, and age.
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was launched to alleviate hardships faced by the poor due to economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
• SakshamAnganwadi and Poshan 2.0 includes key schemes such as the POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anganwadi Services and Scheme for Adolescent Girls as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition in the country. 

Way Ahead

• Promote production, supply and consumption of fruits, vegetables, pulses, millets and dairy products along with  reducing post-harvest losses.
• Public policies should focus on ensuring access to balanced, diverse and micronutrient-rich diets rather than only calorie sufficiency.
• Expand iron-folic acid supplementation, improve maternal healthcare and promote dietary diversification to reduce anaemia.
• Integrate nutrition education, physical activity promotion and regulation of unhealthy foods into public health policies.

Source: DTE