12.5 million Ghanaians remain food insecure despite Q3 improvement – GSS

About 12.5 million Ghanaians remained food insecure in the third quarter of 2025, despite a slight improvement from the previous quarter, according to the latest Quarterly Food Insecurity Report released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).

The report shows that the national prevalence of food insecurity declined from 41.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2025 to 38.1 per cent in the third quarter.

In absolute terms, the food insecure population fell marginally from 13.4 million to 12.5 million. However, the GSS cautioned that food insecurity remains widespread and structurally entrenched.

Gender and location disparities persist. Moderate food insecurity remained consistently higher among female-headed households than male-headed households.

At its peak in the first and second quarters of 2025, moderate food insecurity among female-headed households reached 44.1 per cent, compared with 38.7 per cent among male-headed households. Although rates declined slightly in Q3, the gender gap remains.

Rural households continued to experience greater vulnerability. Across all Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) domains, rural households recorded higher levels of food access stress than urban households.

Nationally, about 53 per cent of households reported worrying about food access, rising to about 62 per cent in rural areas, compared with 47 per cent in urban communities.

Regional disparities were pronounced. The Upper West, North East, Savannah and Volta regions consistently recorded the highest food insecurity levels, while Greater Accra and the Oti region had the lowest prevalence. Food insecurity in the Oti region declined from 23.8 per cent to 18.4 per cent.

Child nutrition outcomes were closely linked to household food insecurity. Nationally, households with malnourished children recorded an average food insecurity prevalence of about 44 per cent.

Severe food insecurity showed a modest improvement. Nationally, prevalence declined from 5.1 per cent in Q2 to 4.6 per cent in Q3 2025. However, severe food insecurity remained higher among rural female-headed households, peaking at 8.1 per cent in Q2 before easing slightly in Q3.

The report also highlighted a growing “triple burden” of vulnerability. The number of persons who were food insecure, multidimensionally poor and unemployed rose from 208,064 in Q2 to 227,519 in Q3 2025, representing a 9.4 per cent increase, even as overall food insecurity eased marginally.

Presenting the report, Government Statistician Dr Alhassan Iddrisu called for targeted, data-driven interventions to address food insecurity. He urged stakeholders to strengthen community nutrition and livelihood programmes, sustain regular monitoring systems and support livelihood diversification and affordable nutrition initiatives, particularly in high-burden regions and vulnerable households.

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