Hunger falls 23.5% in Brazil, but São Paulo still has almost 1 million vulnerable
Almost 1 million people still go hungry every day in the state of São Paulo, according to the National Household Sample Survey (Pnad Contínua) released this Friday (10) by IBGE. The number contrasts with the national scenario, in which Brazil recorded a 23.5% drop in hunger in 2024 and left the UN Hunger Map.
According to the survey, 409 thousand households in São Paulo — equivalent to 2.4% of the state’s population — live in severe food insecurity, a condition in which families face hunger daily.
In 2023, there were 508 thousand homes (3%), totaling 1.3 million people.
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The study shows that 6.48 million Brazilians today live in a situation of hunger, compared to 8.47 million the previous year, a reduction of 2 million people. This is the lowest level of severe food insecurity since 2004, but there are still 18.9 million families living with some degree of food insecurity.
Hunger is more frequent in the North (37.7%) and Northeast (34.8%) regions, while the Southeast has a rate of 19.6%. In absolute numbers, the Northeast leads, with 7.2 million households affected, followed by the Southeast (6.6 million).
Hunger profile
The data reveals that women headed 59.9% of food insecure households and that black and brown people account for 70% of those responsible for affected households. In the most serious cases, brown people represent 56.9%, more than double the proportion among white people (24.4%).
Vulnerability is greater in rural areas (31.3%), with a rate almost 10 percentage points above that observed in urban areas (23.2%).
Hunger Map
The trend observed by IBGE reinforces the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) report, which removed Brazil from the Hunger Map in August. The country now has less than 2.5% of the population at risk of malnutrition, after an improvement that reflects data from 2022 to 2024.
Even with national advances, the contrast between Brazil and São Paulo, which still has 970,000 people in extreme hunger, shows that the recovery of food security is uneven and still faces structural barriers in large cities and among low-income families.
