Which countries saw the largest food price increases in 2025 compared to 2024?
Executive summary
Global food prices were measurably higher in 2025 than in 2024 on average—the FAO Food Price Index’s 2025 annual mean rose about 4.3 percent versus 2024, driven by sharp early‑year jumps in dairy and vegetable oils even as markets cooled late in the year [1] [2]. Available international reporting and commodity indices point to large year‑over‑year increases in dairy and certain meats, and to substantially larger burdens borne by many low‑income countries, but the assembled sources do not provide a definitive country‑by‑country ranking of the largest 2025 versus 2024 food‑price increases [3] [4].
1. Global headline: 2025 costlier than 2024, driven by dairy and vegetable oils
Multiple trackers conclude 2025 was costlier on average than 2024—the FAO/market compilations show the annual FFPI rose (2025 average ~127.2 points vs ~122 in 2024), a roughly 4.3 percent increase, with dairy and vegetable oils among the main contributors to the year’s record‑high monthly peaks earlier in the year [1] [2]. FAO’s commodity sub‑indices indicate dairy prices were especially strong: the Dairy Price Index averaged 146.9 points in 2025, about 13.2 percent above the 2024 average, while the Meat Price Index rose about 5.1 percent year‑on‑year [3].
2. Which countries saw the largest increases? The evidence is national‑light and regional‑leaning
None of the provided sources supply a clean list of countries ranked by 2025 food price inflation relative to 2024, so declaring a single country “largest” is not supported by the reporting at hand; instead the evidence points to patterns—low‑income countries experienced steeper food inflation spikes in the 2023–2025 period and continued to suffer disproportionately in 2025, with annual inflation rates that had peaked above 50 percent in some cases during 2024 and remained elevated afterward [4]. Regional vulnerabilities are highlighted too: North African import dependence on Russian wheat made the region sensitive to price swings and contributed to above‑average food‑price pressure there in 2025 [5].
3. Commodity winners and losers translate unevenly across countries
Because the 2025 jump was concentrated in a few commodities—dairy, some meats, vegetable oils—countries that rely heavily on imports of those goods or whose domestic supply was hit by disease or weather saw bigger food‑price rises; FAO notes dairy averaged +13.2 percent while meat rose ~5.1 percent, and other trackers point to record volatility in vegetable oils and early‑year spikes that pushed annual averages higher [3] [2]. National impacts therefore depend on consumption baskets and trade exposure, meaning country‑level outcomes diverge even as global averages rose [3] [2].
4. The poorest countries bore the brunt, according to humanitarian and food‑security analyses
Analysts focused on food security report that while global averages moderated by mid‑2025, low‑income countries continued to face much steeper domestic food inflation: Food Security Portal notes these countries saw annual inflation rates far above global averages—peaking above 50 percent in August 2024 and remaining around 25 percent or more into 2025—eroding purchasing power and worsening food insecurity [4]. The SOFI and related briefs also flag that supply‑chain dependencies and regional market shares (for example Russia’s share in North Africa’s wheat markets) created acute local pressures [5].
5. Limits of the record and what’s missing from the reporting
The available sources provide strong commodity‑level and regional signals but do not include a validated, country‑by‑country ranking of 2025 food‑price inflation versus 2024; therefore any claim that specific countries “saw the largest increases” cannot be made from these materials alone and would require national CPI/food‑basket data or FAO country tables not present in the supplied reporting [3] [4] [2]. The strongest, supported claims are that (a) 2025 averaged higher global food prices than 2024, powered by dairy and vegetable oils, and (b) low‑income countries and certain import‑dependent regions suffered disproportionately [1] [2] [4] [5].