Brazil is removed from the Hunger Map, but Rede Pensan warns: 'achievement is still fragile'
Rede Pensan celebrates the progress announced by the FAO, but highlights that 7 million Brazilians still face hunger and calls for attention to be paid to the most vulnerable.
247 - After six years, Brazil has been officially removed from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Hunger Map. The new classification is included in the 2025 edition of the report. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI), presented this Monday (28), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the second Review Moment of the United Nations Summit on Food Systems (UNFSS+4). The information was celebrated by the Brazilian Research Network on Food and Nutritional Sovereignty and Security (Rede Penssan), which, despite the progress, reinforces that hunger still affects millions of Brazilians and that the challenges remain great.
According to the report, the country reduced its undernourishment rate to less than 2,5% of the population, the limit used by the FAO to define a country's presence on the Hunger Map. The last time Brazil had left this classification was in 2014, being reinstated on the list in 2019, after the dismantling of public policies for food and nutritional security.
The coordinator of the Penssan Network, Silvia Zimmermann, emphasized the importance of reversing the situation. “We are reaping the rewards of a challenging, but necessary, reconstruction of the country's food and nutritional security policy. Returning to being removed from the Hunger Map is a milestone, but also a warning: maintaining this achievement requires continuous political commitment,” she stated.
Progress with warnings - The Pensan Network attributes the result to the reactivation of structural policies, such as Bolsa Família (a social welfare program), the National School Feeding Program, the increase in the minimum wage, the encouragement of family farming, and the generation of formal jobs. Even so, the organization warns that the country continues to face high rates of food insecurity, especially among the most vulnerable populations.
Data from the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), a methodology used by the FAO in more than 140 countries, indicate that approximately 7 million Brazilians still live in a situation of hunger — a 50% reduction compared to the three-year period 2021–2023, when the number was approximately 14 million. According to the same report, 13,5% of the national population faces moderate or severe food insecurity.
Distinct but complementary indicators - The SOFI report is based on two main indicators: the Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU), which defines entry into the Hunger Map, and the FIES, which captures the lived experience of food insecurity. In Brazil, there is also the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA), used by IBGE since 2003 and, more recently, by the Pensan Network itself in its surveys.
According to EBIA, in 2023, 5% of the Brazilian population lived in severe food insecurity. The difference compared to the 3,4% indicated by FIES is due to the different criteria used by the instruments. When considering moderate and severe levels, the estimates are closer: 13,5% by FAO and 11,6% by EBIA.
Inequality in access to food - The Penssan Network issues a strong warning about the inequalities that persist in the country. Groups most affected by hunger are those marked by race, gender, territory, and social class. Researcher Ana Maria Segall, from the organization's Monitoring Working Group, emphasized the importance of data that accurately portray Brazilian reality: “National surveys, both those from IBGE and those conducted by the Penssan Network using EBIA, play an irreplaceable role in identifying, with scientific precision, the social groups most at risk of experiencing hunger. This allows the government to plan policies targeted at the most vulnerable people.”
SDGs and the future of food security - With its removal from the Hunger Map, Brazil is once again on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 of the UN's 2030 Agenda, which aims to eradicate hunger, ensure food security, and promote sustainable agriculture.
The Penssan Network, however, emphasizes that this achievement needs to be protected. “It is fundamental to shield the progress achieved against unjustifiable external interference or internal setbacks. The human right to sufficient and healthy food is a basic condition of dignity and citizenship that needs to be guaranteed,” concluded Silvia Zimmermann.
