The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has raised concern that healthy diets remain unaffordable for an unacceptable proportion of the world’s population, warning that about 2.7 billion people—roughly one in three globally—still cannot afford nutritious meals despite progress in reducing hunger.
The warning is contained in the 2026 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) Report, titled “Understanding and Addressing the High Cost of Healthy Diets.”
According to the report, while 645 million people faced hunger in 2025, healthy diets remained out of reach for approximately 2.7 billion people worldwide, highlighting the growing challenge of food affordability.
The FAO also reaffirmed the role of Mary’s Meals, a global school feeding initiative committed to providing nutritious meals to more than three million children across 16 countries, in supporting the achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger).
The organisation said Mary’s Meals has demonstrated that a low-cost, community-led model can deliver sustainable impact by working with local communities, governments and development partners.
As one of the world’s largest non-governmental providers of school meals, the programme currently reaches more than three million children in over 6,400 schools across 16 countries.
The report stated that the global average cost of providing Mary’s Meals to one child for an entire school year is €22 / $25.20 / £19.15, equivalent to an average cost of only €0.11 / $0.13 / £0.10 per meal.
According to the report, the programme succeeds because local communities own and operate it in the countries where it is implemented.
It noted that tens of thousands of volunteer cooks prepare and serve meals to children from their own communities, while locally procured food is used wherever possible to support local farmers and strengthen local economies.
Speaking at the launch of the report, FAO Director-General, Qu Dongyu, called for concrete action beyond policy formulation.
“Progress cannot be taken for granted; it must be protected,” he said.
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mary’s Meals, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, described the report as a reminder of the global food paradox.
“SOFI is an important reminder of a painful paradox: the world has the capacity to produce enough food, yet millions of children remain hungry and vulnerable. As nutritious diets become harder for families to afford, children in the world’s poorest communities are often the first to suffer,” he said.
Also speaking, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr. Alvaro Lario, said the major challenge was no longer food availability but affordability.
He stressed that investing in locally driven programmes has proven to be an effective solution to improving access to nutritious food.
The report recognised school feeding programmes as an essential social safety net and one of the most effective ways to reduce the cost of healthy diets amid rising global food demand.
MacFarlane-Barrow stressed the importance of school feeding initiatives, saying:
“No child should have to sit in class too hungry to learn. At a time when humanitarian needs risk being pushed aside, school feeding is a simple, practical and proven way to put children first, helping them eat, learn and build a better future.”
The FAO added that further evidence of the impact of Mary’s Meals in advancing Sustainable Development Goal 2 is contained in the organisation’s recently published Impact Report.
The organisation urged governments, development partners, communities and individuals to support efforts aimed at making healthy diets more affordable, noting that an investment of just €22 / $25.20 / £19.15 can provide a child with nutritious school meals for an entire school year while serving as a vital lifeline for children and their families.
