Hunger Facts

Hunger and poverty claim 25,000 lives every day
Source: FAO & The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006
854 million people do not have enough to eat - more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union
Source: FAO & The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006
820 million people in developing countries alone are hungry - one in four lives in sub-Saharan Africa
Source: FAO & The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006
In the 1990s, global poverty dropped by 20 percent. The number of hungry people increased by 18 million
Source: Food as Aid: Trends, Needs and Challenges in the 21st Century
524 million of the world's hungry live in South Asia - more than the populations of Australia and USA
Source: FAO & The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006
More than 60 percent of chronically hungry people are women
Source: FAO & The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006
The number of chronically hungry people worldwide is growing by an average of four million per year at current trends
Source: FAO & The State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006

Every five seconds a child dies because she or he is hungry
Source: FAO State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006
Undernutrition in children under the age 18 affects an estimated 350 to 400 million children
Source: Global Framework for Action, 2006
For 35 dollars you can feed a hungry child in school for a year
Source: WFP School Feeding unit, 2006
More than 70 percent of the world’s 146 million underweight children under age five years live in just 10 countries, with more than 50 per cent located in South Asia alone
Source: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition (No.4), UNICEF, May 2006
10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths
Source: UNICEF
The cost of undernutrition to national economic development is estimated at US$20-30 billion per annum
Source: Progress for Children, A report card on Nutrition, 2006
One out of four children - roughly 146 million - in developing countries are underweight
Source: The State of the World’s Children 2007, UNICEF
WFP provided school meals and/or take home rations to 20.2 million children in 71 countries in 2006
Source: WFP School Feeding Unit

It is estimated that 684,000 lives child deaths worldwide could be prevented by increasing access to vitamin A and zinc
Source: WFP Annual Report 2007
Almost five million children die each year from preventable diseases such as diarrehoea and measles every year
Source: WFP Hunger Facts 2006
Lack of Vitamin A kills a million infants a year
Source: Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency, A Global Progress Report, UNICEF
Iron deficiency is the most common form of malnutrition, affecting 180 million children aged under four
Source: WFP Facts and Figures on Child Hunger
Iron deficiency is impairing the mental development of 40-60 percent children in developing countries
Source: Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency, A Global Progress Report, p2, UNICEF
Lack of vitamin A weakens the immune system of 40 percent of under fives in poor countries, and can cause blindness
Source: Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency, A Global Progress Report, p2, UNICEF - WFP Facts and Figures on Child Hunger, p2
Iodine deficiency is the main cause of brain damage in the early years of a child's life
Source: WFP Facts and Figures on Child Hunger, p2
WFP-supported deworming reached 11 million children in 2006
Source: WFP Annual Report 2007