Which countries waste the most food, and how to reduce waste at home

What the report says

Al Jazeera published a World Food Day explainer on October 16, 2026, examining the scale of global hunger and food waste, and how households can help cut waste. The piece says 645 million people were hungry in 2025, even as more than a billion tonnes of food are discarded each year, underscoring a wide gap between food production and access.

The report cites UN data showing that hunger has eased for a third straight year but remains above pre-pandemic levels. It notes that Africa has the largest number of hungry people, while a 2026 Global Hunger Index also places several countries, mostly in Africa, in the “alarming” range. Al Jazeera also highlights that food losses happen both before food reaches stores and after it reaches consumers, with households responsible for the largest share of waste.

The explainer identifies the Maldives as the country with the highest per-person food waste in the UN estimates used, followed by Syria, the Dominican Republic, Seychelles, Mexico and Tunisia. Spain is among the lowest. The article adds practical steps for reducing waste at home, including meal planning, understanding date labels, freezing food, using leftovers, and composting scraps. It says food waste matters not only because of hunger, but also because it costs the global economy more than $1 trillion a year and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.