Global Hunger by Severity, 2015

 Summary by Molly Sullivan (March 2020

• Hunger defines a short-term physical discomfort as a result of chronic food shortage, or in severe cases, a life-threatening lack of food. (National Research Council, 2006)

• There are 821.6 million people who are chronically undernourished. World hunger refers to hunger aggregated to the global level. Related terms include food insecurity and malnutrition.

• Food insecurity refers to limited or unreliable access to foods that are safe and nutritionally adequate (National Research Council, 2006).

• Malnutrition is a condition resulting from insufficient intake of biologically necessary nutrients (National Research Council, 2006). Although malnutrition includes both over-nutrition and undernutrition, the focus for global hunger is undernutrition.

• Women and girls make up 60% of the world’s hungry.

• Nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 are attributable to under-

  nutrition.

• Nearly 1/2 of the world’s population — more than 3 billion people

  — live on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in

  extreme poverty — less than $1.25 a day

• 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.

• 1/4 of all humans live without electricity

The World Food Programme says, “The poor are hungry and their hunger traps them in poverty.”

Hunger is the number one cause of death in the world, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.

(Hunger Map Live, Undernourishment) 

HUNGER MAP LIVE This interactive map shows live data about world hunger and poverty, as well as hazards, conflict, vegetation, and rainfall which directly affect these issues. 

A VISUAL HISTORY OF HUNGER AND FOOD PROVISION  This is an info sheet with graphs that display hunger data, tracking trends over time and how these have affected caloric intake on an international level

Know Your World: Facts about World Hunger and Poverty

2018 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics

11 Facts about World Hunger

11 Facts about World Poverty

Woman Digging for Water, Kenya, 2011

Africa

Top 10 Poverty in Africa Facts

Africa Hunger and Poverty Facts

Why Does Hunger Still Exist in Africa, Bill Gates

Climate Change & Hunger: Stories From 6 African Countries profiles six individuals from different countries in Africa. The connection to climate change is an important one in learning about a significant contributing factor in world hunger. 

Four Faces of Hunger profiles individuals facing hunger and living in poverty in Africa.