World Hunger
An OSJHA Fact Sheet
Office of Social Justice
and Hunger Action
More than 840 million people in the world are malnourished—799 million of them are from the developing
world. More than 153 million of them are under the age of 5. -State of Food Insecurity in the World 2002. Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
6 million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger. -State of Food Insecurity in the World
2002. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Malnutrition can severely affect a child's intellectual development. Children who have stunted growth due
to malnutrition score significantly lower on math and language achievement tests than do well-nourished
children. State of the World's Children 1998. UNICEF.
The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17% more calories per
person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70% population increase. This is enough to provide everyone
in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (Food and Agriculture Organization 2002,
FAO 1998). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or
income to purchase, enough food. –World Hunger Notes (www.worldhunger.org)
Poverty is the principal cause of hunger. There are an estimated 1.2 billion poor people in developing
countries who live on $1 a day or less (World Bank). Of these, an estimated 780 million suffer from chronic
hunger, which means that their daily intake of calories is insufficient for them to lead active and healthy lives.
Extreme poverty remains an alarming problem in the world’s developing regions, despite the advances made in
the 1990s. Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and especially, East Asia. In all the
other regions, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased. In sub-Saharan Africa, there were 58
million more poor people in 1999 than in 1990 (Food and Agriculture Organization 2002). Hunger is also a
cause of poverty. By leading to such effects as poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment,
hunger can lead to even greater poverty. The causes of poverty include poor people's lack of resources, an
extremely unequal income distribution in the world and within specific countries and conflict. –World Hunger Notes
Conflict is a cause of hunger. Worldwide, there were some 19.8 million refugees and displaced persons in
2002– largely as a result of wars, political turbulence, civil conflict and social unrest (e.g. Sudan, Liberia,
Colombia, Afghanistan, Burundi, Bosnia and Herzegovina) (UNHCR 2003 Refugee Report). In such
emergencies, malnutrition runs rampant, exponentially increasing the risk of disease and death (World Health
Organization 2003). But, important and visible though it is, conflict is not nearly as important as poverty as a
cause of hunger. –World Hunger Notes
There has been progress in reducing the number of hungry people. There has been some progress in
reducing the number of hungry people, but it has been slow. 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. The latest data
show that the number of undernourished is increasing by 15 million a year, reflecting a serious deterioration in
the performance of countries in their battle against hunger. Out of a total of 96 developing countries, 24
countries are on track to achieving their WFS target, 6 are lagging behind, 22 are slipping back, and 44
countries are off track (Food and Agriculture Organization 2003). –World Hunger Notes