What is World Food Day?
World Food Day is an international day celebrated every year worldwide on October 16 to commemorate the date of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945. The day is celebrated widely by many other organizations concerned with hunger and food security, including the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. WFP received the Nobel Prize in Peace for 2020 for their efforts to combat hunger, contribute to peace in conflict areas, and for playing a leading role in stopping the use of hunger in the form of a weapon for war and conflict.
Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future
World Food Day 2025 is calling for global collaboration in creating a peaceful, sustainable, prosperous, and food-secure future. By working together, across governments, organizations, sectors, and communities, we can transform agrifood systems to ensure that everyone has access to a healthy diet, living in harmony with the planet.
Agrifood systems are facing unprecedented challenges. Conflict, the impacts of extreme weather and climate events, economic shocks, and rising inequality are placing mounting pressure on the land we farm, the water we depend on, and the biodiversity that supports life. Supply chains remain fragile, and the effects of disruption are being felt in homes, markets, and fields around the world.
Hand in Hand across borders, sectors, and generations
In some places, the severity of food insecurity is overwhelming. An estimated 673 million people are living with hunger. Elsewhere, rising levels of obesity and widespread food waste point to a system out of balance—where abundance and absence coexist, often side by side.
Agrifood systems are also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet they offer real potential to reduce those emissions through the way food is grown, harvested, and shared.
Meeting the needs of a growing global population calls for teamwork—across borders, sectors, and generations.“The actions we take today will directly impact the future. We must produce more with less. Let’s work towards a future that is more inclusive and more equitable.”.
Click here to learn more about World Food Day and the flagship events taking place throughout October.