For those involved in the fight against global hunger, it is important to remain up-to-date on the numbers of people who are affected by hunger and malnutrition every year. Although global hunger still plagues a large portion of the world, the number of those affected decreases annually. Here are a few current global hunger statistics:

1. 870 million people do not eat enough every day to be considered healthy.
2. 98% of the world’s hungry live in the developing world.
3. 15% of the population in the developing world is malnourished.
4. One third of children’s deaths in developing countries are due to malnutrition.
5. Hunger is responsible for more deaths every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
6. One out of six children (about 100 million) in developing countries are underweight.
7. One in four children in the world are stunted. This rises to one in three in many areas of the developing world.
8. 80% of stunted children live in just 20 countries.
9. If women received equal treatment (access to land, education, etc) as men, 100-150 million fewer cases of hunger would occur every year.
10. By 2050, an additional 24 million children could fall into hunger because of climate change.

The good news: the amount needed to provide a child with a healthy diet of vitamins and nutrients is merely 25 cents per day. World hunger is 100% solvable.

– Mary Penn

Sources: World Food Programme, Stop Hunger Now