FACT-CHECK: Is Nigeria the “Most hungry Country in the World” as claimed by Peter Obi?
By Abdullateef Sebiotimo
Claim:
Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi claimed that Nigeria is the “most hungry country in the world.”
Verdict:
False. Available data does not rank Nigeria as the most hungry country in the world.
Full Text:
Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has repeatedly raised concerns about food insecurity and hunger in Nigeria.
In March 2024, Obi claimed that Nigeria was among the top 20 hungriest countries in the world. That claim was verified as accurate at the time based on the 2023 Global Hunger Index, which ranked Nigeria 109th out of 125 countries surveyed. This placed Nigeria among the 20 worst-performing nations in terms of hunger on the index.
However, in a more recent statement, Obi reportedly escalated the claim while explaining why he will choose to become a one-term president on a programme titled, “60 minutes with Mr.Kay” on News Central by saying:
“Nigeria is now the “most hungry country in the world.”
Given Nigeria’s worsening economic conditions, rising food inflation, insecurity affecting farming communities, and increasing poverty levels, the claim gained traction online and sparked debate over whether Nigeria has indeed become the world’s hungriest nation. In a bid to examine the accuracy of the assertion by Mr Peter Obi, FactCheckAfrica factchecked the claim.
Verification:
FactCheckAfrica conducted a detailed search of available data on the level of hunger in different countries of the world and the results indicated that the latest data published by the Global Hunger Index show that Nigeria is not ranked as the most hungry country in the world.
According to the 2025 Global Hunger Index, Nigeria ranks 115th out of 123 countries with a recorded GHI score of 32.8 making the country to be classified in the category of countries with “serious” hunger.
The GHI score was derived from four indicators of 19.9% in the population that is undernourished, 33.8% of children under five who are stunted, 11.6% of children under five are wasting and 10.5% of children die before the age of five.
The GHI uses these indicators to measure hunger severity on a 100-point scale, where higher scores indicate worse hunger conditions.
Although Nigeria’s ranking in the index is an indication of hunger crisis, several countries ranked worse on the index. Countries like Central African Republic, Niger, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Niger, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Madagascar, Burundi, South Sudan, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Yemen (implied in the highest hunger bracket) placed lower than Nigeria in the ranking. This means they experience more severe hunger situations than Nigeria, according to the index methodology.
This means Nigeria was not reported as the number one hungriest country in the world.
Conclusion:
The claim that Nigeria is the “most hungry country in the world” is false. The latest 2025 Global Hunger Index ranks Nigeria 115th out of 123 countries, with a hunger level classified as serious, but several countries perform worse on the index. While Nigeria faces a significant hunger and food security crisis, available global data does not support the claim that it is the world’s hungriest country.
