At least 16.99 million Nigerians will face acute hunger by January 2027, the latest projections by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network show.
The figures are contained in FEWS NET’s Food Assistance Outlook Brief for July 2026 obtained by Sunday PUNCH as the latest data on the deepening hunger crisis across conflict and climate-hit nations, including Nigeria.
FEWS NET, a United States Government-funded early warning body, projected that Nigeria’s population in need of urgent food assistance will fall between 16.0 million and 16.99 million by January 2027, down from a current figure of 20.0 million to 20.99 million in July 2026.
But the figure is still higher than the number recorded in January last year and above the country’s five-year average.
The report placed Nigeria fourth on the global list of countries with the highest number of hungry people, behind Sudan, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and ahead of Yemen and Afghanistan.
