As the custodian agency for 22 indicators spanning SDGs 2 (zero hunger), 5 (gender equality), 6 (clean water and sanitation), 12 (responsible consumption and production), 14 (life below water), and 15 (life on land), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) published its 2025 analysis of regional and global figures and trends for the indicators under its purview. As we enter the final five years for reaching the SDGs, the world is “at a moderate distance” from achieving around half of the food and agriculture-related indicators, according to the report.
Titled, ‘Tracking Progress on Food and Agriculture-related SDG Indicators 2025,’ the report includes estimates of Minimum Dietary Diversity for Women – a new SDG indicator approved by the UN Statistical Commission earlier this year.
The report finds that one-quarter of the indicators under FAO’s custodianship are close to being achieved, another quarter remains far or very far from being achieved, and one-third of indicators have registered an improvement or slight improvement since 2015, with progress having deteriorated on three-fifths of the indicators.
According to the report, the world is at a moderate distance to achieving productive and sustainable agriculture. The number of animal genetic resources in conservation facilities has increased. The global trend in water-use efficiency increased 23% between 2015 and 2022, driven primarily by economic growth. The rate of the world’s forest area decline has slowed compared to previous decades.
While there is a growing trend towards the adoption of international instruments combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the report warns that the concrete impacts of these measures are slow to emerge, and the proportion of global fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels dropped to 62.5% in 2021, down from 90% in 1974.
Other highlights include:
- Global food insecurityaffects around 28% of the global population – far above 2015 levels, and an estimated 8.2% of the global population may have faced hunger in 2024.
- Globally, 65% of women of childbearing age achieved minimum dietary diversitybetween 2019 and 2023, with sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia lagging.
- The incidence of food price anomalies remains three times the 2015-2019 average.
- In almost 80% of surveyed countries, less than half of women have secure land rights, with men often at least twice as likely to own land.
- In low-income countries (LICs) and middle-income countries (MICs), small-scale food producers earn less than half of what their non-small-scale counterparts make.
The report was launched on 25 September 2025, during the High-Level Week of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). [Publication: Tracking Progress on Food and Agriculture-related SDG Indicators 2025] [Online Report] [Publication Landing Page] [FAO Press Release] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on 2023 Report] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on 2022 Report]