Feeding the world: food security

The world grows enough food to feed everyone, yet millions still go hungry. Why, and what can be done?

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What is food security?

Food security exists when all people, at all times, can get enough safe and nutritious food for an active, healthy life (FAO definition, 1996 World Food Summit).
Food insecurity is when people cannot be sure of getting enough food.
The FAO's 2025 report on world hunger estimated that about 8.2% of the world's population faced hunger in 2024, a small fall from 2023. Hunger is still rising in Africa, while Asia and Latin America have improved.

Why are people hungry?

Physical factors: drought, floods, poor soils, pests and diseases, and climate change.
Human factors: poverty (people cannot afford food even when it is available), conflict (farms abandoned, supplies cut off), food waste, weak transport and storage, and rising populations.
Many hungry people are farmers themselves, growing food on small plots in dry regions.

Increasing food supply

Irrigation: supplying water to crops, from simple channels to huge schemes.
The Green Revolution (from the 1960s): high-yielding crop varieties, fertilisers and pesticides greatly increased harvests, especially in Asia, but needed lots of water and chemicals.
New technology: genetically modified (GM) crops, hydroponics (growing plants in nutrient-rich water without soil) and aquaculture (fish farming).
Sustainable approaches: agroforestry (trees and crops together), better storage to cut waste, eating more local and seasonal food, and wasting less.
Worked example

A dry region suffers repeated harvest failures. Suggest one large-scale and one small-scale way to improve food security.

  1. Large-scale: an irrigation scheme using a dam or canal could supply water in dry seasons.
  2. Small-scale: drought-resistant seeds or simple rainwater harvesting help each farm, and are cheap to maintain.
  3. Small-scale schemes are often more sustainable because local people can run them.

Answer: Large-scale irrigation; small-scale drought-resistant seeds or rainwater harvesting.

Key idea

Food security: everyone, always, has enough safe, nutritious food (FAO). About 8.2% of people faced hunger in 2024 (FAO, 2025), with hunger still rising in Africa. Causes: drought, climate change, poverty, conflict, waste. Solutions: irrigation, the Green Revolution, GM crops, hydroponics, aquaculture and sustainable farming like agroforestry.

Key words
Climate
The average weather of a place, usually measured over 30 years.
Climate change
A long-term change in the Earth's climate. Today's warming is mainly caused by burning fossil fuels.
Sustainable
Meeting the needs of people today without harming the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

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  1. Which organisation's definition of food security is used here?

    1. NATO
    2. The IMF
    3. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization)
    4. FIFA
    Show the answer

    Answer: The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization)

    The FAO defined food security in 1996.

  2. The FAO's 2025 report estimated the share of the world's population facing hunger in 2024. About what percentage was it?

    Show the answer

    Answer: 8.2 %

    About 8.2% of the world's population faced hunger in 2024.

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Sources and references

Checked by the GCSE-ready editorial team, 16 October 2026. Last updated 2 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.