More than 1 in 4 people go hungry in 20 countries around the world, a new report by the UN has revealed.

The annual hunger report by the body found that 795 million people globally suffer from malnutrition.

This represents an improvement from figures 25 years ago when a billion people were malnourished. Progress was most notable in Latin America, the Caribbean, East Asia, Southeast and Central Asia.

However, despite welcoming an overall decrease in cases of malnutrition, the report noted that many African countries continue to face food crises.

Top 20 hungriest countries in the world Show all 20 1 /20 Top 20 hungriest countries in the world Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 1. Haiti Proportion: 53.4% Total number of malnourished citizens: 5.7 million people Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 2. Zambia Proportion: 47.8% Total number of malnourished citizens: 7.4 million people Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 3. Central African Republic Proportion: 47.7% Total number of malnourished citizens: 2.3 million people Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 4. Namibia Proportion: 42.3% Total number of malnourished citizens: 1 million people Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 5. North Korea Proportion: 41.6% Total number of malnourished citizens: 10.5 million people Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 6. Chad Proportion: 34.4% Total number of malnourished citizens: 4.7 million people Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 7. Zimbabwe Proportion: 33.4% Total number of malnourished citizens: 5 million people Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 8. Tajikistan Proportion: 33.2% Total number of malnourished citizens: 2.9 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 9. Madagascar Proportion: 33% Total number of malnourished citizens: 8 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 10. Tanzania Proportion: 32.1% Total number of malnourished citizens: 16.8 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 11. Ethiopia Proportion: 32% Total number of malnourished citizens: 31.6 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 12. Liberia Proportion: 31.9% Total number of malnourished citizens: 1.4 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 13. Rwanda Proportion: 31.6% Total number of malnourished citizens: 3.9 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 14. Congo Proportion: 30.5% Total number of malnourished citizens: 1.4 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 15. Timor Leste Proportion: 26.9% Total number of malnourished citizens: 0.3 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 16. Afghanistan Proportion: 26.8% Total number of malnourished citizens: 8.6 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 17. Swaziland Proportion: 26.8% Total number of malnourished citizens: 0.3 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 18. Yemen Proportion: 26.1% Total number of malnourished citizens: 6.7 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 19. Uganda Proportion: 25.5% Total number of malnourished citizens: 10.3 million Getty Top 20 hungriest countries in the world 20. Mozambique Proportion: 25.3% Total number of malnourished citizens: 6.9 million Getty

For twenty countries, malnutrition still exists to the extent that a quarter of their population goes hungry.

The country worst affected is Haiti, where more than half of its citizens suffer from malnutrition.

The region gained independence from French colonial control in the nineteenth century and suffered financially as it struggled to pay an ‘independence debt’ to France as compensation to former slave owners as recently as 1947.

Haiti still suffers from the impact of an earthquake in the country’s capital city Port-au-Prince in 2010 in which 160,000 lost their lives and 1.5 million Haitians were displaced.

The UN found that a variety of factors were hampering efforts in developing regions around the world, noting that in the worst affected countries: “extreme weather, natural disasters, political instability and civil strife have all impeded progress.”

The report, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP), did however highlight how progress was being made.

It found the majority of countries monitored – 72 out of 129 – had achieved the Millennium Development Goal of "halving the prevalence of undernourishment by 2015", while, a total of 29 countries had met the more ambitious goal from the World Food Summit in 1996, of "halving the absolute number of undernourished people by 2015".

FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva said: "The near-achievement of the MDG hunger targets shows us that we can indeed eliminate the scourge of hunger in our lifetime.