19 World Hunger Statistics that Will Surprise You
by Ace Out Hunger | Oct 28, 2021 | Blog |
Even while progress has been achieved in the fight to end world hunger, one out of every nine individuals still goes to bed hungry. Here are 20 facts about world hunger:
World Hunger Statistics
#1 Approximately 795 million people, or one in every nine persons on the planet, suffer from malnutrition.
#2 The global hunger rate is decreasing. Between 1990 and 2014, the number of undernourished persons in developing countries decreased by 42%.
#3 780 million people live in developing countries, out of the 795 million who are hungry. This equates to 12.9 percent of the population of developing countries.
#4 Malnutrition can be divided into two categories. The first is protein-energy malnutrition, which is characterized by a deficiency in both calories and protein. Micronutrient deficiency, or a lack of vitamins and minerals, is the second. While both are significant, protein-energy malnutrition is the topic of discussion in the realm of hunger.
#5 Hunger kills more people each year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis put together.
#6 Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have the highest rates of hunger. Asia is home to two out of every three malnourished individuals on the planet. Furthermore, one out of every four persons in Sub-Saharan Africa is malnourished.
#7 Women account for 60% of the world’s hungry people.
#8 Women’s pregnancies are affected by hunger. Every year, around 17 million children are born undernourished as a result of their mother’s malnutrition while pregnant.
#9 Inequality and poverty, not a lack of food, are the root causes of world hunger. Food is produced in sufficient quantities to feed around 10 billion people.
#10 A child dies every ten seconds as a result of a hunger-related sickness.
#11 Approximately 896 million people in developing nations live on less than $1.90 per day.
#12 Global hunger is exacerbated by food waste. Every year, one-third of the food produced is wasted, costing the world economy almost $750 billion.
#13 Around 66 million primary school-aged children in underdeveloped countries go to school hungry. This has a severe effect on their futures since hungry youngsters attend school for fewer years and are unable to concentrate.
#14 Food help, excluding emergency relief, is frequently more harmful in the long run. This is because free or heavily subsidized food imported from the United States and Europe and sold at below-market rates hurts local farmers who are unable to compete.
#15 The World Food Programme of the United Nations seeks to alleviate world hunger by providing free meals and snacks in schools all around the world. In 2015, the program served meals or snacks to 17.4 million youngsters. This not only aids in the feeding of children around the world, but it also serves as a motivator for parents to take their children to school.
#16 People who work in agriculture are particularly vulnerable to hunger. Farming families account for half of the world’s hungry people.
#17 Gender equality is a critical component of the fight against world hunger. Women account for over half of the world’s farmers, yet they lack access to the same tools as males, such as training and land rights. Female farmers could boost their output and assist in alleviating world hunger by 1.5 million people if men and women had equal access to resources.
#18 Sustainable agriculture, which strives to protect the Earth’s natural resources through things like crop waste recycling and more precise fertilizer use, is one way to reduce world hunger.
#19 Microfinance has the ability to eradicate world hunger as well. These programs help to alleviate poverty and promote gender equality by providing finance to low-income people, mainly women, to start small companies.
6 Main Causes of World Hunger?
It isn’t about the amount of food available to end hunger. Food is produced in sufficient quantities to feed everyone on the earth. The issue is one of access and availability, which is hampered by factors such as extreme weather, food waste, gender, and, worst of all, conflict.
#1 Confict
It isn’t about the amount of food available to end hunger. Food is produced in sufficient quantities to feed everyone on the earth. The issue is one of access and availability, which is hampered by factors such as extreme weather, food waste, gender, and, worst of all, conflict.
#2 Weather
Climate change, which is producing more frequent and intense extreme weather events, is one of the primary drivers of world famine. Over 80% of the hungry people on the planet reside in disaster-prone areas.
#3 Women’s Rights
Women are more likely than men to suffer from hunger and malnutrition in approximately two-thirds of the world’s countries. This is due to the fact that women frequently eat last and least.
#4 Wasted Food
Every year, over a third of all food produced in the world is lost or squandered. We could feed every hungry person on the earth twice over if we could recover all of the food we waste.
#5 Covid-19 Pandemic
According to new research, the novel coronavirus has doubled the number of hungry individuals around the world. Its influence on supply chains, humanitarian access, the global economy, and food supplies might force 20 nations into famine or famine-like situations. WFP is literally the only source of food for 30 million of these people. They will starve if they do not receive it.
#6 Poverty
Half of the world’s population is subsisting on less than $5.50 per day. Poverty is often at the root of hunger; it is triggered or exacerbated by factors such as conflict and natural disasters. When families cannot afford the food they require, their children’s physical and mental development is hampered, perpetuating the cycle of hunger and poverty.
The Path to Solving World Hunger
There is no one, simple answer to world hunger, but that does not rule out the possibility of finding one. We have a variety of tools at our disposal, both institutionally and individually, to help us put an end to hunger for good.
Concern International has been working in the world’s poorest countries for almost fifty years, with the goal of permanently ending extreme poverty. For decades, our programs have been at the forefront of the worldwide response to hunger, and our revolutionary method for treating malnutrition has been at the forefront of the global response. However, before we discuss solutions, we must first examine the situation.
