Indonesia Ranks Second Globally in School Meal Programme Beneficiaries, Says BGN

Indonesia has become one of the countries with the largest number of beneficiaries through the implementation of the Free Nutritious Meal Programme (MBG) run by the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), based on data from the World Food Programme (WFP).

Data as of 3 March 2026 shows that the number of beneficiaries of the MBG programme in Indonesia reached 61.2 million people, with 49 million of them being students at school.

Khairul Hidayati, Head of the Legal Affairs and Public Relations Bureau at BGN, stated in Jakarta on Monday that globally 174.9 million children have received school meal programmes, indicating that nutrition provision through the education environment has become an important global agenda.

According to her, Indonesia’s MBG programme aims not only to ensure the availability of nutritious food for students but also serves as a long-term investment in building the quality of Indonesia’s human resources.

“With the number of beneficiaries having reached 61.2 million people, this programme is expected to be able to strengthen health, learning concentration, and support the emergence of a healthy, intelligent, and productive generation of Indonesians,” she said.

Of the 174 countries in the world, she continued, only 107 countries have implemented school meal programmes as a national programme.

Indonesia ranks second in the world in terms of the number of school meal beneficiaries. India holds the first position with 118 million students, followed by Indonesia with 49 million students, then Brazil with 38 million students, China with 34 million students, and the United States with 30 million students.