Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished in Madagascar

Madagascar: Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished was 17.8 percent in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
17.8 percent
Change on year
up 19.5%
World rank
22nd
of 125 countries
All-time high
17.8 percent
in 2023
All-time low
9.5 percent
in 2018
Years of data
6
2018–2023

Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished in Madagascar, 2018–2023

051015202018202020232018: 9.5 percent2019: 9.9 percent2020: 10.3 percent2021: 12.2 percent2022: 14.9 percent2023: 17.8 percent

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in percent.

Analysis

In 2023, share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished in Madagascar stood at 17.8 percent. That is the highest value across all 6 years on record.

That represents a change of up 19.5% on the previous year and up 87.4% over ten years.

That places Madagascar 22nd out of 125 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top quarter.

Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished in Madagascar, year by year

Annual values for Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished in Madagascar, 2018 to 2023.
Year percent Change
2018 9.5 percent
2019 9.9 percent +4.2%
2020 10.3 percent +4.0%
2021 12.2 percent +18.4%
2022 14.9 percent +22.1%
2023 17.8 percent +19.5%

Madagascar compared with similar countries

  • Madagascar's 17.8 percent is below the median for low income countries, which is 21.7 percent, 82% of the median. (15 countries reporting)
  • Madagascar's 17.8 percent is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 18.4 percent, 97% of the median. (32 countries reporting)

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2010s 9.7 percent 9.5 percent 9.9 percent 2
2020s 13.8 percent 10.3 percent 17.8 percent 4

Countries ranked near Madagascar

  1. 19 Guatemala 21.3 percent compare
  2. 20 Ethiopia 19 percent compare
  3. 21 Dominican Republic 17.9 percent compare
  4. 23 Libya 17.2 percent compare
  5. 23 Zambia 17.2 percent compare
  6. 25 El Salvador 15.4 percent compare
  7. 25 Honduras 15.4 percent compare

See the full ranking of 125 places →

More reference data data for Madagascar

All data for Madagascar →

Frequently asked questions

What is share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished in Madagascar?
Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished in Madagascar was 17.8 percent in 2023, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished recorded in Madagascar?
The highest recorded value was 17.8 percent in 2023.
What is the lowest share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished recorded in Madagascar?
The lowest recorded value was 9.5 percent in 2018.
How does Madagascar rank for share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished?
Madagascar ranks 22nd out of 125 countries with data for 2023.
Is share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished rising or falling in Madagascar?
Over the last ten years it is up 87.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Madagascar data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 6 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished in Madagascar. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 24 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/severe-food-insecurity-undernourishment/madagascar/

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/severe-food-insecurity-undernourishment/madagascar/">Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished in Madagascar</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Share of the population defined as severely food insecure vs. undernourished
Unit
percent
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
125 places, 1,042 data points, 2015–2023
Last refreshed

Both metrics indicate that someone does not get enough food (in terms of calories) to eat: these metrics should be strongly correlated. Severe food insecurity is measured based on food security questionnaires among households. Undernourishment is based on estimates of actual calorie intake across the population.