World Hunger Facts
 

Browse these facts by category:

• Hunger in the world

• Hunger in the United States

• Hunger in children
   

• Sources

World Hunger facts

• 854 million people are hungry

Developing nations

• 820 million people are undernourished
• 1 billion people live on less than $1/day
• 146 million children under age 5 are underweight
  • 10 million children under age 5 die every year, over half of hunger-related causes
• 1 in 6 people is hungry
• 1 in 6 people lacks safe drinking water

Industrialized/developed nations

• 9 million people are undernourished

Transitional nations

• 28 million people are undernourished

World population facts

• 6.55 billion people

Developing nations

• 5.1 billion people (approx.)
• 3/4 of world population
• 125 low/middle-income countries

Industrialized/developed nations

• 1 billion people (approx.)
• Less than 1/6 of world population
• 57 countries (including the U.S.)

Transitional nations

• Almost half a billion (0.4 billion) people
• About 6 percent of world population
• Includes Baltic states, eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Hunger in the United States

• 35.5 million people (including 12.6 million children) experience hunger or the risk of hunger.
   
  • This is roughly 10.9 percent of the 301 million people in the U.S. (July 2007 estimate)
     
• 4.0 percent of U.S. households (11.1 million people, including 0.43 million children) experience hunger. Some families skip meals, eat too little, or go a whole day without food.
   
  • 1 out of every 8 households in the United States has reduced the quality of its diet to utilize money elsewhere (rent, clothing, day care).
     
• 6.9 percent of U.S. households (24.4 million people, including 12.2 million children) are at risk of hunger.
   
• In 2007, an average of 26.5 million people participated in the Food Stamp Program each month (8.8 percent of the U.S. population).
   
• In 2006, requests for emergency food assistance increased 7 percent. Of those requesting emergency food assistance, 48 percent were members of families with children, and 37 percent of adults requesting assistance were employed.
   
• America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest network of food banks, reported that an estimated 24 to 27 million people turned to its agencies in 2006.

Hunger in children

• In the U.S., 12.6 million children are hungry or at risk of becoming hungry.
   
• In the developing world, 20 million low-birth-weight babies are born each year. They are at risk of dying in infancy or suffering lifelong physical or cognitive disabilities.
   
• 3/4 of all deaths in children under age 5 in the developing world are caused by malnutrition or related diseases.
   
• Each day in the developing world, 16,000 children die from hunger or preventable diseases such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, or malaria. Malnutrition is associated with over half of those deaths. That is equal to 1 child every 5.4 seconds.
   
• Hungry children are more likely to be ill and absent from school.
   
• Hungry children suffer from 2 to 4 times more individual health problems--such as unwanted weight loss, fatigue, headaches, irritability, inability to concentrate, and frequent colds--as low-income children whose families do not experience food shortages.

Facts on HIV and AIDS; Facts on Africa

• In 2006, 4.3 million people became infected with HIV, and 2.9 million people died of AIDS.
   
• 1% (ages 15-49) of the world is HIV prevalent (2005 data).
   
• 90 percent of children who have HIV live in Africa.
   
• In sub-Saharan Africa, 24.9 million people live with HIV or AIDS, which is 63% of the world's
  39.5 million total cases.
   
• In half of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, per capita economic growth is estimated to be falling by between 0.5 and 1.2 percent each year as a direct result of AIDS.
   
• The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that there are 206 million people who are hungry in sub-Saharan Africa. This region accounts for 13 percent of the world’s population, yet it is home to 25 percent of the world's undernourished population.

SOURCES

Food and Agriculture Organization (UN)

Bread for the World

UNICEF

www.bread.org

www.unicef.org

Updated April 2008

ELCA World Hunger
www.elca.org/hunger