Number of people severely food insecure in Ethiopia

Ethiopia: Number of people severely food insecure was 24.50 million in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
24.50 million
Change on year
down 0.8%
World rank
4th
of 118 countries
All-time high
25.70 million
in 2021
All-time low
15.10 million
in 2015
Years of data
9
2015–2023

Number of people severely food insecure in Ethiopia, 2015–2023

010.0M20.0M30.0M2015201920232015: 15.1M2016: 16.0M2017: 16.2M2018: 15.9M2019: 19.0M2020: 23.4M2021: 25.7M2022: 24.7M2023: 24.5M

Source: Our World in Data.

Analysis

In 2023, number of people severely food insecure in Ethiopia stood at 24.50 million.

Compared with earlier readings it is down 0.8% on the previous year and up 62.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, number of people severely food insecure in Ethiopia peaked at 25.70 million in 2021 and was at its lowest, 15.10 million, in 2015.

That places Ethiopia 4th out of 118 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top 10%.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2010s 16.44 million 15.10 million 19.00 million 5
2020s 24.57 million 23.40 million 25.70 million 4

Countries ranked near Ethiopia

  1. 1 Nigeria 55.30 million compare
  2. 2 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 45.00 million compare
  3. 3 Pakistan 25.00 million compare
  4. 5 Tanzania, United Republic of 16.20 million compare
  5. 6 Kenya 15.50 million compare
  6. 7 Egypt 13.80 million compare

See the full ranking of 118 places →

More reference data data for Ethiopia

All data for Ethiopia →

Frequently asked questions

What is number of people severely food insecure in Ethiopia?
Number of people severely food insecure in Ethiopia was 24.50 million in 2023, according to Our World in Data.
What is the highest number of people severely food insecure recorded in Ethiopia?
The highest recorded value was 25.70 million in 2021.
What is the lowest number of people severely food insecure recorded in Ethiopia?
The lowest recorded value was 15.10 million in 2015.
How does Ethiopia rank for number of people severely food insecure?
Ethiopia ranks 4th out of 118 countries with data for 2023.
Is number of people severely food insecure rising or falling in Ethiopia?
Over the last ten years it is up 62.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Ethiopia data come from?
The figures come from Our World in Data, published as part of Number of people severely food insecure. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 9 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Number of people severely food insecure in Ethiopia. Statizoid, drawing on Our World in Data. Retrieved 21 August 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-people-severely-food-insecure/ethiopia/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-people-severely-food-insecure/ethiopia/">Number of people severely food insecure in Ethiopia</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Number of people severely food insecure
Source
Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
118 places, 973 data points, 2015–2023
Last refreshed