World Hunger
Education Service
This fact sheet is divided into the following sections:
Hunger concepts and definitions
Hunger is a term which has three meanings (Oxford English Dictionary 1971)
- the uneasy or painful sensation
caused by want of food; craving appetite. Also the
exhausted condition caused by want of food
-
the want or scarcity of food in a
country
-
a strong desire or craving
World hunger refers to the second
definition, aggregated to the world level. The related
technical term (in this case operationalized in medicine) is
malnutrition.
1
Malnutrition is a general term
that indicates a lack of some or all nutritional elements
necessary for human health (
Medline
Plus Medical Encyclopedia).
There are two basic types of
malnutrition.
The first and most important is protein-energy
malnutrition--the lack of enough protein (from meat and
other sources) and food that provides energy (measured in
calories) which all of the basic food groups provide. This
is the type of malnutrition that is referred to when world
hunger is discussed. The
second type of malnutrition, also very important, is micronutrient (vitamin and
mineral) deficiency. This is not the type of malnutrition
that is referred to when world hunger is discussed, though
it is certainly very important.
[Recently there has also been a move to
include obesity as a third form of malnutrition. Considering
obesity as malnutrition expands the previous usual meaning of the term
which referred to poor nutrition due to lack of food inputs.
2
It is poor nutrition, but it is certainly not typically due to a lack
of calories, but rather too many (although poor food
choices, often due to poverty, are part of the problem).
Obesity will
not be considered here, although obesity is
certainly a health problem and is increasingly considered as
a type of malnutrition.]
Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM)
is the most lethal form of malnutrition/hunger. It is
basically a lack of calories and protein. Food is converted
into energy by humans, and the energy contained in food is
measured by calories. Protein is necessary for key
body functions including provision of essential amino acids
and development and maintenance of muscles.
Number of hungry people in the world
925 million hungry people in 2010
No one really knows how many people are malnourished. The statistic most
frequently cited is that of the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization, which measures 'undernutrition'.
The FAO did not publish an estimate in its most recent publication, 'The State
of Food Insecurity in the World 2011' as it is undertaking a major revision of
how it estimates food insecurity (FAO 2011 p. 10). The 2010 estimate, the most recent,
says that 925 million people were undernourished in 2010 (FAO 2010). As the figure below
shows, the number of hungry people has increased since
1995-97. The increase
has been due to three factors: 1) neglect of agriculture
relevant to very poor people by governments and
international agencies; 2) the current worldwide economic
crisis, and 3) the significant increase of food prices in
the last several years which has been devastating
to those with only a few dollars a day to spend. 925 million people is 13.6 percent of the estimated world
population of 6.8 billion. Nearly all of the
undernourished are in developing countries.
Number of hungry people, 1969-2010
Source: FAO
In round numbers there are 7 billion people in the world. Thus, with an
estimated 925 million hungry people in the world, 13.1
percent, or almost 1 in 7 people are hungry.
The FAO estimate is based on statistical aggregates. The FAO first
estimates the total food supply of a country and derives the average per
capita daily food intake from that. The distribution of average food
intake for people in the country is then estimated from surveys
measuring food expenditure. Using this information, and minimum food
energy requirements, FAO estimates how many people are likely to
receive such a low level of food intake that they are undernourished.
3
Undernutrition is a relatively new concept, but is increasingly used. It
should be taken as similar to malnutrition. (It should be
said as an aside, that the idea of undernourishment, its relationship to malnutrition, and the reasons for its
emergence as a concept is not clear to Hunger Notes.)
Children are the most visible victims
of undernutrition. Children who are poorly nourished
suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 10.9
million child deaths each year--five million deaths.
Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease,
including measles and malaria.
The estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition
is an underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea
(61%), malaria (57%), pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%)
(Black 2003, Bryce 2005).
Malnutrition can also be caused by diseases, such as
the diseases that cause diarrhea, by reducing the body's
ability to convert food into usable nutrients.
According to the most recent estimate that Hunger Notes
could find, malnutrition, as measured by stunting, affects
32.5 percent of children in developing countries--one of
three
(de Onis 2000). Geographically, more
than 70 percent of malnourished children live in Asia, 26 percent in
Africa and 4 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In many cases, their plight began even before birth with a
malnourished mother. Under-nutrition among pregnant
women in developing countries leads to 1 out of 6 infants
born with low birth weight. This is not only a risk factor
for neonatal deaths, but also causes learning disabilities,
mental, retardation, poor health, blindness and premature
death.
Does the world produce enough food to feed everyone?
The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17 percent
more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago,
despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to
provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720
kilocalories (kcal) per person per day according to
the most recent estimate that we could find.(FAO 2002,
p.9). The principal problem is that many
people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or
income to purchase, enough food.
What are the causes of hunger?
What are the causes of hunger is a fundamental question, with varied answers.
Poverty is the principal cause of
hunger. The causes of poverty include poor people's lack
of resources, an extremely unequal income distribution in
the world and within specific countries, conflict, and
hunger itself. As of 2008 (2005 statistics), the World Bank
has estimated that there were an estimated 1,345 million poor
people in developing countries who live on $1.25 a day or less.
3 This compares to the
later FAO estimate of 1.02 billion undernourished
people. Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in
the world’s developing regions, despite some progress that
reduced "dollar--now $1.25-- a day" poverty from (an
estimated) 1900 million
people in 1981, a reduction of 29 percent over the period. Progress in
poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and
especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring
in China. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people in
extreme poverty has increased. The statement that
'poverty is the principal cause of hunger' is, though
correct, unsatisfying. Why then are (so many) people
poor? The next section summarizes Hunger Notes
answer.
Harmful economic systems are the principal cause of poverty and hunger.
Hunger Notes believes that the principal underlying cause of
poverty and hunger is the ordinary operation of the economic
and political systems in the world. Essentially control over
resources and income is based on military, political and
economic power that typically ends up in the hands of a
minority, who live well, while those at the bottom barely
survive, if they do. We have described the operation of this
system in more detail in our special section on
Harmful economic systems.
Conflict as a cause of hunger and poverty. At the
end of 2005, the global number of refugees was at its lowest
level in almost a quarter of a century. Despite some
large-scale repatriation movements, the last three years
have witnessed a significant increase in refugee numbers,
due primarily to the violence taking place in Iraq and
Somalia. By the end of 2008, the total number of refugees
under UNHCR’s mandate exceeded 10 million. The number of
conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) reached
some 26 million worldwide at the end of the year . Providing
exact figures on the number of stateless people is extremely
difficult But,
important, (relatively) visible though it is, and anguishing
for those involved conflict is
less important as poverty (and its causes) as a cause of hunger. (Using the
statistics above 1.02 billion people suffer from chronic
hunger while 36 million people are displaced [UNHCR 2008])
Hunger is also a cause of poverty, and thus of hunger. By causing poor
health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment,
hunger can lead to even greater poverty by reducing people's
ability to work and learn, thus leading to even greater
hunger.
Climate change Climate change is increasingly
viewed as a current and future cause of hunger and poverty.
Increasing drought, flooding, and changing climatic patterns
requiring a shift in crops and farming practices that may
not be easily accomplished are three key issues. See
the Hunger Notes special report:
Hunger, the
environment, and climate change for further information,
especially articles in the section: Climate change, global
warming and the effect on poor people such as
Global warming causes 300,000 deaths a year, study says and
Could food shortages bring down civilization?
Progress in reducing the number of hungry people
The target set at the 1996 World Food Summit was to halve
the number of undernourished people by 2015 from their
number in 1990-92. (FAO uses three year averages in its
calculation of undernourished people.) The (estimated)
number of undernourished people in developing countries
was 824 million in 1990-92. In 2010, the number had climbed
to 925 million people. The WFS goal is a global goal
adopted by the nations of the world; the present outcome
indicates how marginal the efforts were in face of the real
need.
So, overall, the world is not making progress
toward the world food summit goal, although there has been
progress in Asia, and in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Micronutrients
Quite a few
trace elements or micronutrients--vitamins and minerals--are
important for health. 1 out of 3 people in developing
countries are affected by vitamin and mineral deficiencies,
according to the World Health Organization. Three, perhaps
the most important in terms of health consequences
for poor people in developing countries, are:
Vitamin A Vitamin A deficiency
can cause night blindness and reduces the body's resistance
to disease. In children Vitamin A deficiency can also cause
growth retardation. Between 100 and 140 million children are
vitamin A deficient. An estimated 250,000 to 500 000 vitamin
A-deficient children become blind every year, half of them
dying within 12 months of losing their sight. (World Health
Organization)
Iron Iron deficiency is a
principal cause of anemia. Two billion people—over 30
percent of the world’s population
—are anemic, mainly due to
iron deficiency, and, in developing countries, frequently
exacerbated by malaria and worm infections. For children,
health consequences include premature birth, low birth
weight, infections, and elevated risk of death. Later,
physical and cognitive development are impaired, resulting
in lowered school performance. For pregnant women, anemia
contributes to 20 percent of all maternal deaths (World
Health Organization).
Iodine Iodine deficiency
disorders (IDD) jeopardize children
´s mental health– often
their very lives. Serious iodine deficiency during pregnancy
may result in stillbirths, abortions and congenital
abnormalities such as cretinism, a grave, irreversible form
of mental retardation that affects people living in
iodine-deficient areas of Africa and Asia. IDD also causes
mental impairment that lowers intellectual prowess at home,
at school, and at work. IDD affects over 740 million people,
13 percent of the world’s population. Fifty million people
have some degree of mental impairment caused by IDD (World
Health Organization).
(Updated December 4, 2011)
Footnotes
1. The relation between hunger,
malnutrition, and other terms such as undernutrition is not
'perfectly clear,' so we have attempted to spell them out
briefly in "World Hunger Facts."
2. For example, the Oxford English
Dictionary (1971 edition) has 'insufficient nutrition' as
the only meaning for malnutrition.
3. For discussions of measuring hunger see Califero 2011, Headey
2011 and Masset, in press.
4. The table used to calculate
this number.
| Region |
% in $1.25 a
day poverty |
Population
(millions) |
Pop. in $1 a day
poverty (millions) |
| East Asia and Pacific |
16.8 |
1,884 |
316 |
| Latin America and the
Caribbean |
8.2
|
550 |
45 |
| South Asia
|
40.4 |
1,476 |
596 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa |
50.9 |
763 |
388 |
| Total
Developing countries |
28,8 |
4673 |
1345 |
| Europe and Central
Asia |
0.04 |
473 |
17 |
| Middle East and North
Africa |
0.04 |
305 |
11 |
| Total |
|
5451 |
1372 |
Source: See World
Bank PovcalNet "Replicate the World Bank's Regional
Aggregation" at
http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/povDuplic.html
(accessed May 7, 2010). Also see World Bank "PovcalNet"
at
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTPROGRAMS/EXTPOVRES/EXTPOVCALNET/0,,contentMDK:21867101~pagePK:64168427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:5280443,00.html
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