Pakistan has been listed among the world’s top 10 fragile nations where global acute food insecurity is most concentrated, according to local media citing a United Nations-backed report.
The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises has named Pakistan alongside Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen as key centres of acute hunger, Pakistani daily Dawn reported.
According to the report, Pakistan was also among the 10 countries that experienced the largest food crises in 2025, with around 11 million people facing severe food insecurity.
Of those affected in Pakistan, 9.3 million people were classified under “crisis” conditions, while 1.7 million were in “emergency” conditions — the most severe categories short of famine.
The report uses the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, which defines a food crisis as a situation requiring urgent action to protect lives and livelihoods. Acute food insecurity occurs when access to food is so limited that it threatens survival.
Extreme weather events were highlighted as a key factor driving food insecurity in Pakistan, particularly heavy rains and floods that caused significant crop damage. “In 2025, severe floods were recorded worldwide, affecting livelihoods and food security. In Pakistan, heavy monsoon rains and flash floods impacted more than 6 million people, destroying cropland and infrastructure,” the report stated.
Pakistan was also included in the report’s nutrition analysis, with Balochistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa identified as areas of concern. However, the country lacks sufficient recent data to assign a formal severity classification for 2025, placing it among nations with “no severity data” for nutrition outcomes.
The report further highlights Pakistan’s vulnerabilities in malnutrition risk pathways, including issues related to diet, healthcare access, water and sanitation, and disease. It projects that inflation in Pakistan could rise to 6 per cent in 2026, adding further pressure on the system, Dawn reported.
Pakistan’s inclusion among the top 10 nations reflects both the severity of the crisis and expanded data coverage. The analysis was extended from 43 rural districts in 2024 to 68 districts in 2025, covering regions in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh. As a result, the share of Pakistan’s population included in the assessment increased from 16 per cent to 21 per cent, adding more than 14 million people.
With Inputs From IANS