Latest Quarterly Food Insecurity Report covering 2024 Quarter 1 to 2025 Quarter 3, released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) shows that 12.5 million Ghanaians in the third quarter of 2025 face food insecurity despite marginal earlier improvement from 13.4 million in Q2.
The report shows that national food insecurity prevalence increased from 35.3 percent in the first quarter of 2024 to 38.1 percent by the third quarter of 2025, reflecting a volatile and upward trend. Food insecurity peaked at 41.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, before declining slightly in the most recent quarter.
Speaking at the release, Government Statistician Dr. Alhassan Iddrisu said food insecurity should not be seen purely as a social challenge, stressing its broader implications for economic performance and national development.
“Food insecurity is not just a social issue. It affects household welfare, child health, global productivity, business confidence and ultimately national development,” he said.
Dr. Iddrisu noted that the report directly supports Ghana’s development agenda and Sustainable Development Goal Two, which seeks to end hunger, improve nutrition and promote sustainable food systems. He explained that the objective of the quarterly release is to provide credible, timely evidence to guide policy choices and interventions by government, businesses, communities and development partners.
The Ghana Statistical Service uses the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), which is aligned with SDG indicator 2.1.2 and allows for international comparison.
“This approach asks households eight simple questions about their experiences over the last three months,” Prof Iddrisu said. “These questions include, ‘Did you worry about having enough food? Did you eat less than you should have? Did you skip meals? And did anyone go a whole day without eating?’
The report shows persistent gender gaps, with female-headed households consistently more affected. “From 2024 quarter one to 2025 quarter three, moderate food insecurity was consistently higher in female headed households,” Prof Iddrisu said, noting that the gap widened to 6.2 percentage points in the third quarter of 2025. “This possibly reflects structural factors such as income differences between males and females, employment opportunities and also caregiving responsibilities,” he added.
Regional disparities were described as “among the strongest findings” of the report. The Upper West Region recorded the highest food insecurity prevalence at 55.9 per cent, followed by the Volta Region at 50.1 per cent and the North East Region at 45.9 per cent.
“If at the national level food insecurity prevalence rate is 38.1 per cent and you have a region like Upper West that records 55.9 per cent, then you know it is high compared to the national average,” the Government Statistician said.
By contrast, the Oti Region recorded the lowest prevalence at 18.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, widening the gap between the best- and worst-performing regions to 37.5 percentage points. “This tells us that food insecurity in Ghana is deeply spatial, not evenly spread,” he stressed.
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