The document summarizes global trends in chronic hunger. While the proportion of people experiencing chronic hunger has decreased globally over the past decade, one in nine individuals still do not get enough food. The vast majority of undernourished people live in developing countries, where nearly one in eight were chronically hungry from 2012-2014. Several regions have made progress in reducing undernourishment, with Latin America and the Caribbean reaching targets, but sub-Saharan Africa still has the highest prevalence of chronic hunger at one in four people.

1. Vital Signs
Global Trends
in Chronic
Hunger

2. Although the proportion of
people experiencing chronic
hunger is decreasing TEXT HERE
globally, 1
in 9 individuals still don't get
enough to eat
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), The State of Food and Agriculture (Rome: 2013).

3. Undernourishment is defined
as an inability to take in
enough calories over at least 1
year to meet dietary energy
TEXT HERE
requirements
802 million living with undernourishment in
2012-2014, down more than 100 million
over the last decade
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), The State of Food and Agriculture (Rome: 2013).

4. This leads to undernutrition;
a condition caused by a
deficient or imbalanced diet,
or by poor absorbtion and
biological use of nutrients
TEXT HERE
within the body
Accounts for $1.4-$2.1 trillion per year, or
2-3% of gross world product
World Food Programme, "Hunger Glossary," at www.wfp.org/hunger/glossary.
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), The State of Food and Agriculture (Rome: 2013).

5. The vast majority of
undernourished people live in
developing countries
TEXT HERE
Here, 791 million people, or 1 in 8, were
chronically hungry in 2012-2014
FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme
(WFP), The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Strengthening the Enabling Environment for
Food Security and Nutrition (Rome: FAO, 2014).

6. Women and children are
particularly vulnerable to
nutritional deficiencies due
to biological and social
TEXT HERE
inequalities
Globally, undernutrition contributes to
more than 1/3 of child deaths
UNICEF, Improving Child Nutrition: The Achievable Imperative for Global Progress (New York: 2013).

7. The Millennium Development
Goal 1c (MDG-1c) aims to halve
the proportion of the population
in developing TEXT HERE
countries who
are hungry from the 1990 base
year to the 2015 target year.
This goal is within reach.
FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme (WFP), The
State of Food Insecurity in the World: Strengthening the Enabling Environment for Food Security and
Nutrition (Rome: FAO, 2014).

8. Since 1990-92, the prevalence
of 18.7% TEXT chronic hunger fell from
to 11.3% in HERE
2012-2014, less
than 2% above the MDG-1c
target
FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme (WFP), The
State of Food Insecurity in the World: Strengthening the Enabling Environment for Food Security and
Nutrition (Rome: FAO, 2014).

9. Latin America and the Caribbean
have shown the greatest
TEXT HERE
reduction in undernourishment
and have already reached the
MDG-1c target
FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme (WFP),
The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Strengthening the Enabling Environment for Food
Security and Nutrition (Rome: FAO, 2014).

10. The sub-Saharan region has by
far the highest prevelance of
chronic hunger of any region
TEXT HERE
1 in 4 people here are chronically hungry
FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme
(WFP), The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Strengthening the Enabling Environment
for Food Security and Nutrition (Rome: FAO, 2014).

11. Asia as a whole is close to
reaching the MDG-1c target
Yet because of their large population, 2
out of 3 undernourished people in the
TEXT HERE
world live in this region
In west Asia the prevalence of chronic
hunger actually increased due to
political and economic instability
FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme (WFP), The
State of Food Insecurity in the World: Strengthening the Enabling Environment for Food Security and
Nutrition (Rome: FAO, 2014).

12. Climate change increases
breakdown TEXT food insecurity and the
of food HERE
systems.
This disproportionately affects
poorer populations.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2014: Impacts,
Adaptation and Vulnerability (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2014).

13. World food prices have begun
to come down since the
all-time peak in August 2012,
but they remain high, and poor
TEXT HERE
households still spend a
significant portion of their
incomes on food.
FAO, FAO Statistical Yearbook 2014: Africa Food and Agriculture (Accra: 2014).

14. Full analysis, sources,
and data available at:
http://bit.ly/16073jA

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