The second Sustainable Development Goal aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. Despite enough food being produced globally to feed everyone, nearly 1 in 11 people worldwide faced hunger in 2023, with over 2 billion people experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity.
Achieving zero hunger requires transforming food systems to be more productive, sustainable, and resilient. This includes supporting small-scale farmers, ensuring equitable access to land and resources, and addressing the root causes of malnutrition while adapting to climate change.
Global Progress
People facing hunger globally (2023)
People with moderate/severe food insecurity
Children under 5 with stunted growth (2024)
Income gap: small vs. large farmers
Targets & Indicators
By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
Key Indicators:
- 2.1.1 - Prevalence of undernourishment
- 2.1.2 - Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population
By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.
Key Indicators:
- 2.2.1 - Prevalence of stunting among children under 5
- 2.2.2 - Prevalence of malnutrition (wasting and overweight) among children under 5
- 2.2.3 - Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15-49
By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.
Key Indicator:
2.3.1 - Volume of production per labour unit by classes of farming/pastoral/forestry enterprise size
By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
Key Indicator:
2.4.1 - Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture
By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and promote access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.
Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries.
Major Challenges
- •Rising Hunger: Global hunger has been increasing since 2019, reversing decades of progress toward food security
- •Climate Change: Extreme weather events, droughts, and floods increasingly disrupt food production and destroy harvests
- •Conflicts & Instability: Wars and civil unrest continue to be major drivers of food crises and famine
- •Economic Shocks: Rising food prices and economic downturns make nutritious food unaffordable for many families
- •Inequality: Small-scale farmers earn less than half of what larger producers make, perpetuating rural poverty
- •Persistent Malnutrition: Despite declining stunting rates, millions of children still suffer from chronic malnutrition
Recommended Actions
Provide small-scale farmers with access to land, credit, technology, and markets. Invest in agricultural extension services and training to improve productivity and incomes.
Promote sustainable farming practices that build resilience to climate change, including drought-resistant crops, efficient water management, and soil conservation.
Improve food storage, transportation, and distribution systems to reduce post-harvest losses. Promote consumer awareness to minimize household food waste.
Expand school feeding programs, maternal and child nutrition services, and food fortification initiatives to address malnutrition in all its forms.
Build more diverse, resilient food systems that can withstand shocks. Promote local food production and reduce dependence on food imports.
Address conflicts and instability that drive food crises. Provide humanitarian assistance to conflict-affected populations and support peacebuilding efforts.