Pakistan among world's 10 worst food crises: 10.6 million people need aid in 2026, Action Against Hunger says

Pakistan is one of the 10 countries carrying the heaviest burden of the world's hunger crisis, with an estimated 10.6 million people needing humanitarian assistance in 2026, according to a report by the charity Action Against Hunger released on Friday for World Food Day, Dawn reported.

The report, Ten Largest Global Food Crises, lists Nigeria, Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Sudan and Syria. About 177 million people live in those ten countries. Worldwide, acute hunger has doubled in a decade and now affects 266 million people in 47 countries.

Why Pakistan is on the list

The report points to a mix of climate shocks and money:

• Climate: recurring floods, droughts, heatwaves, glacial lake outburst floods and erratic monsoon rain, with several districts in prolonged drought.
• Prices and incomes: persistent poverty, high food inflation and falling household incomes that cut what families can buy.
• Insecurity: localised violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan that disrupts livelihoods, markets and aid work.
• It also flagged the lean season from December 2025 to March 2026 as a period likely to make things worse.

The picture this week

The figures match what has been reported from the ground. In Thar, drought is pushing families and their livestock towards Sindh's barrage areas (our story). In the cities, the weekly SPI shows atta up 3.4% and chicken up 3.3% in a single week even as headline inflation eased to 11.38% (details). Next door, Afghanistan's own hunger figures hit a record this week (our story).

Where help comes from

Food support in Pakistan runs mainly through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and provincial ration and flour schemes, which are targeted by household survey. For a family stretching a monthly budget, our salary breakdown calculator shows take-home pay after tax, and the CPI page tracks inflation month by month.