Nearly one in 11 people worldwide lives in food insecurity, a crisis driven by armed conflicts, extreme weather events, and the lasting economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a complex problem with many root causes and extensive impact. Ending global hunger means understanding what it is and why it exists in a world that produces enough food to feed us all. So, we had to ask: What is the most important information you need to know about this year’s World Hunger Day?

👉 Official Name: World Hunger Day
💚 Cause: Raising awareness and encouraging action to end world hunger
📅 Next Date: May 28, 2026
🌐 Official Website: https://www.worldhungerday.org
🐦 Hashtag: #WorldHungerDay, #WorldHunger

Keep reading to find out all the important information about World Hunger Day at a glance: its big picture, why it’s important, and how you can get involved. We’ll then share its brief history, three interesting facts about it, its future dates, and how you’ll never miss any important awareness event again.

The Most Important Information About World Hunger Day at a Glance

1️⃣ The big picture: World Hunger Day encourages all of us to play our part in ending world hunger for good. This day is an opportunity to advance sustainable solutions that address the root causes of hunger, promote food security, and empower communities worldwide. It is the perfect time to not only evaluate our food waste and its impact, but also advocate for improved nutrition knowledge, effective public policies, and ending military wars that affect our global food resources. 

2️⃣ Why it is important: The number of undernourished people is on the rise, climbing to over 700 million people. Malnutrition is one of the biggest contributors to the cycle of chronic hunger, impacting every country in the world. It includes both undernutrition, which causes stunted development in children, and overnutrition, which leads to obesity. Mothers and children living in poverty are especially vulnerable: 50% of child deaths are linked to hunger and 148 million children are stunted globally. This also makes children suffer from poor health, low energy levels, and reduced mental functioning. In turn, this leads to greater poverty by reducing people’s ability to work and learn. 

3️⃣ How you can get involved: You can support World Hunger Day by advancing healthy nutrition for vulnerable communities, reducing your food waste, or involving your community in this event:

1. Support Proper Nutrition: For many underserved people worldwide, hunger comes as a result of malnutrition. You can donate your time or money to organizations that improve nutrition in developing countries by providing nutrient supplements, sending food, and teaching nutrition education.
2. Reduce Hunger and Food Waste: A good way to increase others’ access to food is by ensuring that food products you don’t use can reach them instead of going to waste. For this, you can find local organizations that bridge the logistics of repurposing food, and think twice before throwing away edible food.
3. Engage Others: You can organize a community event to recover edible food and take it to your nearest food bank. In addition, you can raise awareness online of the global hunger issues with the official campaign tools, using the hashtags #WorldHungerDay and #WorldHunger. 

Below are our favorite charities that are especially relevant for World Hunger Day:

• 9 Best Charities That Fight Hunger Globally
• 9 Best Charities That Fight Hunger in America
• 9 Best Charities That Fight to Reduce Food Waste
• 9 Best Charities That Advance Healthy Nutrition

A Brief History of World Hunger Day

When was this event established: World Hunger Day was established in 2011 by The Hunger Project to call attention to the global food crisis. The Hunger Project was founded in 1977 as a global movement dedicated to creating a world free from hunger. 

How has it developed since then: Nowadays, World Hunger Day is a globally-recognized event when millions of individuals, organizations, and corporations come together to stress the importance of creating a world without hunger. For example, in 2024, the organizers reached 48 million people from 22 countries with the year’s theme, “Thriving Mothers, Thriving World”, to highlight the pivotal role mothers play in fostering healthy, resilient communities and combating hunger.

3 Interesting Facts About World Hunger Day

1. Struggling Economies: More than 1 billion people, especially in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, live on less than $1.25 a day. This means they can only spend $455 a year, whereas the average American spends $9,300 each year on food alone. The low amount of $1.25 a day could not even buy one gallon of milk in the US. That is why 90 million children under five are still undernourished and underweight.
2. Overlapping Crises: The war in Ukraine disrupted global food supplies and increased the number of people facing acute hunger by 25%. Moreover, post-COVID inflation raised natural gas prices and disrupted fertilizer production and exports, threatening supply and jeopardizing future harvests for people already undernourished. What’s more, recent extreme heatwaves caused dangerous weather events that drastically reduced yields. 
3. Distressing Consequences: When families don’t have enough food, they can make difficult and dangerous decisions that impact their children’s well-being, such as child marriage or child labor. Moreover, food insecurities can forcibly displace people from their homes or cause food riots and destabilize their societies. 

Upcoming Dates of World Hunger Day

World Hunger Day is observed every year on May 28.

Never Miss an Awareness Event Again

Sources

• Action Against Hunger: World Hunger Facts and Statistics
• Concern Worldwide: The top 10 causes of world hunger
• Concern USA: World hunger facts: What you need to know in 2023
• World Hunger Day: Home page
• Ceres 2030: Sustainable Solutions to End Hunger
• Earth.org: How Does Food Waste Affect the Environment?
• World Hunger Day: Learn more
• World Health Organization: Malnutrition
• Science Direct: Undernutrition
• Bread for the World: Global child obesity rapidly rising, WHO report shows
• Power of Nutrition: Malnutrition
• ScienceDirect: Neurodevelopmental effects of childhood malnutrition: A neuroimaging perspective
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: CHAPTER 1 – The Role of Nutrition in Social and Economic Development
• Impactful Ninja: 9 Best Charities That Advance Healthy Nutrition
• Impactful Ninja: 9 Best Charities That Fight to Reduce Food Waste
• Feeding America: Find Your Local Food Bank
• World Hunger Day: Get involved
• World Hunger Day: Home page
• World Hunger Day: About us
• The Hunger Project: World Hunger Day 2024: Thriving Mothers. Thriving World
• Population Reference Bureau: Extreme Poverty Rate Falls in Many Countries
• Oberlo: How much do Americans spend on food?
• United Nations: ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY & HUNGER
• World Vision: Global hunger: 7 facts you need to know
• PreventionWeb: Crop yields reduced by climate extremes, finds study
• World Bank: Food Riots: From Definition to Operationalization