Hunger is the most commonly used term to describe the social condition of people who frequently experience the physical sensation of desiring food.
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On October 11, 2010, it was reported that the number of malnourished people in the world exceeded 1 billion people,[1] about a sixth of the world's total population.
Six million children die of hunger every year.[2]
According to estimates by the FAO there were 925 million undernourished people in the world in 2010.[3] This was a decrease from an estimate of 1,023 million undernourished people in 2009.[4] The same organization reports that there were 923 million malnourished people in the world in 2007, which in turn represented an increase of 80 million since 1990.[5] The FAO purports that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone — 6 billion people — and could feed double — 12 billion people.[6]
As the number of hungering people is a subset of the under- or malnourished number, the number of people in hunger is smaller. The statistics here may provide some indication but should not be quoted as numbers or shares of people in hunger.
| Year | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of malnourished people in the developing world[7][8][4] | 37 % | 28 % | 20 % | 16 % | 17 % | 16 % |
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, "850 million people worldwide were undernourished in 1999 to 2005" and the number of hungry people has recently been increasing widely.
There is a wide range of opinions as to why this problem is so persistent. Organizations such as Food First raise the issue of food sovereignty and claim that every country on earth (with the possible minor exceptions of some city-states) has sufficient agricultural capacity to feed its own people, but that the "free trade" economic order associated with such institutions as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank prevent this from happening. At the other end of the spectrum, the World Bank itself claims to be part of the solution to hunger, claiming that the best way for countries to succeed in breaking the cycle of poverty and hunger is to build export-led economies that will give them the financial means to buy foodstuffs on the world market.
Amartya Sen won his 1998 Nobel Prize in part for his work in demonstrating that hunger in modern times was not typically the product of a lack of food; rather, hunger usually arose from problems in food distribution networks or from governmental policies in the developing world.
There is a growing sense among governments and global institutions that eradicating hunger is a fundamental challenge for the 21st century. The United Nations has three agencies that work to promote food security and agricultural development: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). All three of these agencies are based in Rome, Italy. FAO is the world’s agricultural knowledge agency, providing policy and technical assistance to developing countries to promote food security, nutrition and sustainable agricultural production, particularly in rural areas. FAO also acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. WFP’s key mission is to deliver food into the hands of the hungry poor. The agency steps in during emergencies and uses food to aid recovery after emergencies. Its longer term approaches to hunger help the transition from recovery to development. IFAD, with its knowledge of rural poverty and exclusive focus on poor rural people, designs and implements programmes to help those people access the assets, services and opportunities they need to overcome poverty.
In 2002, the World Bank began a study involving 61 countries and more than 400 agricultural scientists. In 2008 they released a report called the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development. It contained ideas about how to feed the world, fight poverty and address climate change. According to the report, small-scale, diverse, sustainable farms and home gardens had the most potential to solve the world’s hunger problems while reversing modern agriculture’s devastation of ecosystems. The authors concluded that “small farms are often among the most productive in terms of output per unit of land and energy.” Also, they wrote, “an increasing percentage of the funding of university science tends to be concentrated in areas of commercial interest or in advanced studies such as satellite imaging, nanotechnologies and genomics rather than in applications deeply informed by knowledge of farming practice and ecological contexts.” Regarding genetically engineered crops, the report cited “possible risks to biodiversity and human health” and the “privatization of the plant breeding system and concentration of market power in input companies.”[9] [10]
Several humanitarian organizations are using the internet to raise awareness about hunger and to raise funds. Web campaigns like the 1billionhungry and websites like Freerice, where users accumulate rice for the hungry as they answer questions, or WeFeedback, where they share information about their favourite food as they donate, are examples of how internet-based tools are being used in new ways to help fight hunger.
UNICEF, UNHCR and WFP have recently built a substantial social media presence, marking a further development in the bid to engage the 1.8 billion internet users worldwide in the issue of hunger.
The Meals On Wheels Association of America Foundation (MOWAAF) has found that hunger is a serious threat facing millions of seniors in the United States, and that understanding the problem is a critical first step to developing remedies. In 2007, MOWAAF, underwritten by the Harrah's Foundation, commissioned a research study entitled The Causes, Consequences and Future of Senior Hunger in America.[11] The report was released at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging in March 2008 in Washington, D.C.
The study found that in the US, over 5 million seniors (11.4% of seniors), experience some form of food insecurity (i.e., were marginally food insecure). Of these, about 2.5 million are at-risk of hunger, and about 750,000 suffer from hunger due to financial constraints. Some groups of seniors are more likely to be at-risk of hunger. Relative to their representation in the overall senior population, those with limited incomes, under age 70, African American, Hispanic, never-married, renters, and seniors living in the Southern United States are all more likely to be at-risk of hunger. While certain groups of seniors are at greater-risk of hunger, hunger cuts across the income spectrum. For example, over 50% of all seniors who are at-risk of hunger have incomes above the poverty threshold. Likewise, it is present in all demographic groups. For example, over two-thirds of seniors at-risk of hunger are Caucasian. There are marked differences in the risk of hunger across family structure, especially for those seniors living alone, or those living with a grandchild. Those living alone are twice as likely to experience hunger compared to married seniors. One in five senior households with a grandchild (but no adult child) present is at-risk of hunger, compared to about 1 in 20 households without a grandchild present. Seniors living in non-metropolitan areas are as likely to experience food insecurity as those living in metropolitan areas, suggesting that food insecurity cuts across the urban-rural continuum.[12]