Number of Hungry people increasing in poor countries

A new report by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says that every night an estimated 800 million people in the developing world go to sleep hungry. This is more than the combined population of Europe and North America.

The FAO called these 800 million a “hungry continent of women, men and children who may never reach their physical and mental potential because they do not have enough to eat.”

The report titled ‘The State of Food Insecurity in the World’ said that the number of malnourished people in the developing world had fallen by 40 million from 830 million to 790 million between 1990/192 and 1995/1997. It said however that this decline represented achievements in just 37 countries. “Across the rest of the developing world, the number of people who are chronically undernourished actually increased by almost 60 million,” the FAO said.

In sub-Saharan Africa it said there were an estimated 180 million undernourished people and progress in combating hunger had been very uneven. Only five African nations, all of them in West Africa - Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Gambia and Nigeria - had achieved significant reductions in undernourishment worldwide. However, the number of undernourished people had increased significantly in areas such as Burundi and Madagascar. “In central, east and southern Africa, the proportion and numbers of undernourished have generally increased,” it said.

The report said that about 200 million children in the developing world were severely stunted, with 33 percent of children in Africa under the age of five being severely under weight. Emphasising the plight of children the FAO said: “Investments in children are known to produce the highest returns over time in both economic and humanitarian terms.”