Health

One in nine people globally does not have enough food: UN agency

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage of population with lack of enough food 

 
By Karnika Bahuguna
Published: Monday 28 December 2015

One out of nine people globally does not have enough food to lead a healthy, active life, according to the data of the World Food Programme (WFP). WFP, a voluntarily-funded organisation, is part of the United Nations.

On request from authors, teachers, researchers and students, WFP has compiled a list of useful facts and figures on the world hunger scenario.

The data compilation says that around 795 million people worldwide, which makes about one in nine, do not have sufficient food. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage of population with lack of enough food with one in four people being undernourished.

Interestingly, the statistics say that if women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million.

Asia has the most number of hungry people in the world, amounting to two-thirds of the total population, it said. While the percentage of hungry people has fallen in southern Asia in the recent years, the same has risen in the western part of the continent.

Poor nutrition claims around 3.1 million or 45 per cent of deaths in children under five every year, the WFP said. It also added that one out of six children amounting to around 100 million in developing countries is underweight.

While currently one in four of the world’s children are stunted, the proportion can rise to one in three in the developing countries, according to the WFP.

About 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world with 23 million in Africa alone, the statistics said. According to WFP estimates, an amount of US $ 3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children.

 

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