The World Food Programme confirmed in early 2025 that approximately 5.5 million Haitians — roughly half the country’s population — were facing acute food insecurity, with 2 million experiencing emergency levels of hunger and an estimated 6,000 people in catastrophic conditions that amounted to famine-like circumstances. The figures, drawn from assessments covering August 2024 to February 2025, represented one of the worst food security situations Haiti had ever recorded.
The food crisis was the direct product of the security crisis. Gang control of major roads and markets had disrupted food distribution networks across the country. The Artibonite Valley, Haiti’s breadbasket, had been destabilized by gang expansion that drove farmers from their land and disrupted the supply chains moving agricultural produce to urban markets. The economic contraction caused by years of instability had reduced household purchasing power to levels where families could not afford food even when it was available.
For the 6,000 people in catastrophic hunger conditions — the most severe classification in the food security assessment framework — the situation was one of complete livelihood collapse, starvation-level deprivation, and excess mortality. These individuals were beyond the reach of normal humanitarian assistance given the security conditions in the areas where they were concentrated.
The WFP issued urgent appeals for increased funding and for humanitarian access to be secured through diplomatic and security measures that would allow food assistance to reach the most severely affected communities. They warned that without rapid action, the number of people in famine-level conditions would grow and that Haiti risked a food catastrophe that would dwarf anything the country had previously experienced.