11 million stare at starvation in Pakistan: UN report reveals malnutrition above life-threatening levels

As Shehbaz Sharif draws comparisons between Pakistan and India on global platforms, a harrowing United Nations report has delivered a sobering counterpoint: more than 11 million Pakistanis are now facing acute hunger, many perilously close to starvation. While India has positioned itself as a crisis-time food supplier to the world, Pakistan is buckling under the weight of a deepening food crisis at home.

The 2025 Global Report on Food Crises, released by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on May 16, reveals that 11 million people — or 22% of the analysed population — are facing acute food insecurity across 68 flood-ravaged rural districts in Balochistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This includes 1.7 million people in emergency conditions.

The scale of the crisis has expanded. Between the 2024 peak and the current 2025 analysis, the coverage grew by 38% — from 36.7 million to 50.8 million people — spanning 25 more districts.

At the heart of this crisis are rural communities devastated by climate extremes, chronic poverty, and state neglect. In some districts, malnutrition has reached alarming levels. From 2018 to early 2024, Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates surpassed 30% — a threshold considered life-threatening globally. Even GAM levels above 10% typically indicate a public health emergency.

In Balochistan and Sindh, provinces long marked by calls for autonomy or independence, malnutrition has become endemic. Despite some recovery from last year’s peak, the FAO warns that climate shocks will continue to erode livelihoods in 2025.

Between November 2023 and January 2024, around 11.8 million people — 32% of the analysed population in 43 rural districts — were projected to face acute food insecurity. Of these, 2.2 million were in emergency levels (IPC Phase 4), highlighting the depth of the crisis during the winter lean season.

Children are among the most affected. From March 2023 to January 2024, about 2.1 million children aged 6 to 59 months suffered from acute malnutrition. Their diets lacked both quality and quantity, worsened by winter-related price hikes, limited job options, and restricted market access.

Healthcare access remains a major hurdle. Blocked roads, poor infrastructure, and inadequate health-seeking behaviours, particularly in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan, compounded the crisis. Funding shortages have further crippled nutrition support services.

Without urgent intervention, the FAO warns that a combination of persistent climate shocks and spiraling food insecurity could worsen Pakistan’s malnutrition crisis even further in 2025.