On October 15, 2025, the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations’ frontline agency for global food assistance, sounded the alarm on a crisis it has never before faced: a devastating convergence of record-breaking hunger and a precipitous drop in funding. At a virtual briefing, WFP emergency director Ross Smith described the situation bluntly: the agency is grappling with "fewer resources than ever before" even as the number of people in need has soared to unprecedented heights, according to Reuters and other international outlets.
The numbers are staggering. WFP reports that 319 million people worldwide are currently experiencing acute food insecurity—meaning their lives and livelihoods are threatened by lack of access to sufficient food. Of these, 44 million are already confronting emergency hunger conditions, teetering on the edge of catastrophe, as reported by the BBC. For the first time in the agency’s history, WFP is simultaneously battling two concurrent famines, with famine-like conditions affecting 1.4 million people across Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, and Yemen. This figure has doubled in just two years, underscoring the rapid escalation of the crisis.
But the problem isn’t just the sheer scale of need—it’s the rapidly shrinking resources available to meet it. The WFP anticipates a 40% reduction in assistance levels in 2025 due to a funding crisis that has forced the agency to slash its budget from $10 billion in 2024 to a projected $6.4 billion for the coming year, as detailed in the agency’s new report, A Lifeline at Risk. The situation is expected to deteriorate even further in 2026 unless new funding is secured.
The causes of the funding shortfall are complex but have been exacerbated by policy changes among major donor nations. The United States, traditionally the WFP’s largest donor, has sharply cut its foreign aid contributions under President Donald Trump, a move that has sent shockwaves through the entire humanitarian sector. Other major donor countries have also reduced or announced cuts to their development and humanitarian assistance, compounding the problem.
"WFP’s funding has never been more challenged. The gap between what WFP needs to do and what we can afford to do has never been larger. We are at risk of losing decades of progress in the fight against hunger," said Cindy McCain, executive director of the WFP, in a statement quoted by Reuters. She added, "We are watching the lifeline for millions of people disintegrate before our eyes."
The consequences of these funding gaps are already being felt in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions. In Afghanistan, where 10 million people face acute food insecurity, the WFP currently reaches fewer than 10% of those in need. Funding breaks are anticipated as soon as November 2025, raising fears that even this limited assistance could soon disappear. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country grappling with conflict and instability, over 27 million people face unprecedented hunger, but only 2.3 million are currently receiving aid. This month, the number of recipients in DRC will drop to just 600,000—down from a planned 2.3 million, according to RFI.
Somalia, another country deeply affected by conflict and climate shocks, will see assistance slashed to just 350,000 people in November—less than a quarter of last year’s coverage. In Haiti, families are receiving only half the agency’s standard monthly rations. And in South Sudan, expensive airdrops of food to famine-risk areas are under threat as the agency scrambles to stretch its dwindling resources. The humanitarian system as a whole is under "severe strain," with partners pulling back from frontline locations and creating a dangerous vacuum, the WFP report warns.
The agency’s new report highlights that six key operations—Afghanistan, DRC, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan—are "currently facing major disruptions, which will only get worse by year-end." The WFP estimates that 13.7 million people in these countries, currently experiencing "crisis" (IPC Phase 3) levels of acute food insecurity, could be pushed into "emergency" (IPC Phase 4) conditions—one step away from famine—if funding is not restored. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a UN-backed initiative that measures hunger and malnutrition, with Phase 5 indicating outright catastrophe and famine.
"Programme coverage has been slashed and rations cut. Life-saving assistance to households in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) is at risk, while preparedness for future shocks has dropped drastically," the WFP report states. Cindy McCain emphasized that "rising hunger levels not only put lives at risk but also undermine regional stability and fuel the displacement of communities." She pointed to the Sahel region, where 500,000 people had been lifted out of aid dependence through years of hard-won progress, warning that these gains could be quickly reversed if help does not arrive.
The crisis is not confined to countries in active conflict or facing large-scale emergencies. Even regions that have made significant progress in reducing hunger are at risk of backsliding. The WFP’s operational scale-backs are creating what officials describe as a dangerous "disconnect between very high needs for food response and lower availability of funding." The knock-on effects are likely to be felt in terms of increased displacement, regional instability, and the erosion of years—if not decades—of progress in the fight against hunger.
Amid these warnings, the WFP and its leaders have called on the international community to step up. "It’s not just the countries engulfed in major emergencies. Even hard-won gains in the Sahel region could experience severe setbacks without help, and we want to prevent that," McCain said, as reported by Reuters. The agency is urging donors to reconsider their cuts and for new partners to step forward to help bridge the growing gap.
As the world faces hunger issues "on a scale never seen before," the central message from the WFP is clear: without an immediate and significant increase in funding, millions more will be pushed to the brink of famine. The agency’s leaders warn that the world is at a critical juncture—one where the choices made in the coming months will determine whether decades of progress in combating hunger are preserved or lost.
For now, the lifeline for millions remains perilously thin, with humanitarian workers and the communities they serve bracing for what could be a devastating year ahead.