Islamabad, April 26 (IANS). Pakistan has been included among the top 10 vulnerable countries in the world, where severe food insecurity is highest globally. This information was given by the local media citing a United Nations report.
According to the report of Pakistani newspaper Dawn, in the Global Report on Food Crisis of 2026, Pakistan has been described as the main center of severe hunger along with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
According to the report, Pakistan is also among the 10 countries in the world that face the biggest food crisis in 2025, with about 11 million people facing severe food insecurity.
Of those affected in Pakistan, 9.3 million people were placed in crisis status and 1.7 million people were placed in emergency status, the most serious category after famine.
In the report, the classification system, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), describes a food crisis as a situation that requires immediate action to save lives and livelihoods. Acute food insecurity occurs when access to food is so reduced that it threatens survival.
According to the report, inclement weather has been a frequent cause of food insecurity in Pakistan, with heavy rains and floods damaging crops. “In 2025, severe floods were recorded across the world, impacting livelihoods and food security. In Pakistan, heavy monsoon rains and flash floods affected more than 6 million people, causing damage to crops and infrastructure,” it said.
Pakistan is also mentioned in the report’s nutrition analysis, with Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa identified as areas of concern. However, Pakistan does not have sufficiently recent data to provide a formal severity classification for 2025, placing it among countries with “no severity data” for nutrition outcomes.
Pakistan also figures in the analysis of the threat of malnutrition. It shows vulnerabilities related to food habits, access to health facilities, water and sanitation as well as disease. According to Dawn report, it has been estimated that inflation in Pakistan will increase to 6 percent in 2026, which will put further pressure on the system.
According to the report, the mention of Pakistan among the top 10 countries shows the seriousness of the need and the increase in data coverage. The analysis was expanded from 43 rural districts in 2024 to 68 districts in 2025. This included the areas of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. As a result, the share of Pakistan’s population included in the analysis increased from 16 percent to 21 percent, adding more than 14 million people.
–IANS
KK/ABM
