International Hunger Facts
About 24,000 people
die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. This is down from 35,000
ten years ago, and 41,000 twenty years ago. Three-fourths of the deaths are
children under the age of five. The Hunger Project, United Nations
Today 10% of
children in developing countries die before the age of five. This is down from
28% fifty years ago. CARE
Famine and wars
cause just 10% of hunger deaths, although these tend to be the ones you hear
about most often. The majority of hunger deaths are caused by chronic
malnutrition. Families simply cannot get enough to eat. This in turn is caused
by extreme poverty. The Institute for Food and Development Policy
Besides death,
chronic malnutrition also causes impaired vision, listlessness, stunted growth
and greatly increased susceptibility to disease. Severely malnourished people
are unable to function at even a basic level. United Nations World Food
Programme (WFP)
It is estimated that
some 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition, about
100 times as many as those who actually die from it each year. Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
According to the
1996 World Food Summit, 840 million people live in the condition of chronic,
persistent hunger, one-seventh of our human family. The vast majority of hungry
people live in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Often it takes just
a few simple resources for impoverished people to be able to grow enough food
to become self-sufficient. These resources include quality seeds, appropriate
tools and access to water. Small improvements in farming techniques and food
storage methods are also helpful. Oxfam
Many hunger experts
believe that ultimately the best way to reduce hunger is through education.
Educated people are best able to break out of the cycle of poverty that causes
hunger. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
done by Theli