According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 815 million people around the world suffer from malnourishment. Hunger strikes a nation when violence, conflict and any type of instability is present. Here are the top ten malnourished countries based on the malnourishment rates of countries around the world.

10 Most Malnourished Countries

1. Central African Republic (CAR): CAR is known to be the hungriest country in the world. Half of its population suffers from hunger. CAR has “suffered from instability, ethnic violence and conflict since 2012.” This has disrupted food production and has displaced more than a million people. CAR has the highest malnutrition rate at 61.8 percent.
2. Zimbabwe: A combination of the economic crisis and the devastating drought from October to May has resulted in Zimbabwe’s 46.6 percent malnutrition rates. About 5.5 million people will need food assistance by 2020. More than two million people are already facing severe starvation.
3. Haiti: Haiti has gone through hurricanes, floods, political instability and earthquakes that account for its high levels of hunger. About 22 percent of children are chronically malnourished, and 66 percent of children under the age of five are anemic. Half of the 10.7 million people in Haiti are undernourished. Haiti’s malnutrition rate comes in at 45.8 percent.
4. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: More than 10 million people, around 40 percent of the population, are in need of “urgent food aid.” Due to the drought the country experienced earlier this spring, its crops went through “dry spells” and “heat waves,” leaving one in five children stunted.
5. Zambia: The drought from 2001-2002 has driven Zambia into a “massive food deficit” that affected more than 2.3 million households who are dependent on rural agricultural. About 58 percent of the population are “classified as extremely poor,” hungry and food insecure. About 25 percent of children under five are underweight, and 6 percent are severely malnourished.
6. Madagascar: Due to extreme weather conditions, long droughts and locust attacks, 1.4 million people in Madagascar are in food crisis. At least 43.1 percent of its population is malnourished. Deforestation is another key issue since 85 percent of its rainforests have vanished because of “cooking and slash and burn agricultural practices.”
7. Uganda: Because of issues of land evictions, fake seed supplies and problematic farming methods, Uganda’s malnutrition rate stands at 41 percent. More than 1.6 million Ugandans are in a food crisis. About 82 percent of malnourished children cases go untreated, resulting in many other health problems. About 15 percent “of all child mortality cases” in the nation are related to undernutrition.
8. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): The food situation in DRC is so dire that people are resorting to prostitution and joining armed forces for extra money. Due to conflict-related issues, about 15 million people in the nation are going hungry. This is higher than the 7.7 million people in 2017.
9. Yemen Republic: Yemen has a 39 percent malnutrition rate. More than 2 million children are suffering from malnutrition. Food insecurity in Yemen is due to the “large scale displacement, high food prices, endemic poverty, and influences of refugees and migrants.”
10. Chad: Chad has been suffering from “political instability, social unrest and conflicts” ever since its independence in 1960. Additionally, its consecutive drought and random rains have resulted in failed harvests. The National Nutrition Survey of 2018 states that global acute malnutrition rests at 13.5 percent, of which 4 percent is severe malnutrition. The U.N.’s Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that about 4.5 million people face food insecurity.

IFRC and the DPRK Red Cross have also helped highly vulnerable countries like North Korea. IFRC has given about 77,000 Swiss francs to the national Red Cross efforts to help 22,000 people. Red Cross has also created around 100 community greenhouses to grow vegetables to help feed communities. DPRK has also helped by deploying water pumps during droughts so communities can water their crops.

Malnutrition is a serious issue that affects many countries. Populations in developing countries and countries in conflict are the most vulnerable. Efforts from organizations to combat malnutrition are making a difference. However, the top ten malnourished countries on this list are still in dire need of aid.