25% of U.S. Kids go Hungry

Ten years ago I saw a study that portrayed children in the United States are more prone to die of hunger than all countries in the world except three. I can’t image how we could have come from a country more rich in farming and agriculture to being fourth from the bottom of all countries in the world?

This is an excerpt you might find interesting and hopefully, it will inspire you to do something in your area to help those less fortunate than you.

No one really knows how many people are malnourished. The statistic most frequently cited is that of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which measures ‘undernutrition’. The most recent estimate, released in  October 2010 by FAO,  says that 925 million people are undernourished. As the figure below shows, the number of hungry people has increased since 1995-97, though the number is down from last year. The increase has been due to three factors: 1) neglect of agriculture relevant to very poor people by governments and international agencies; 2) the current worldwide economic crisis, and 3) the significant increase of food prices in the last several years which has been devastating to those with only a few dollars a day to spend. 925 million people is 13.6 percent of the estimated world population of 6.8 billion. Nearly all of the undernourished are in developing countries.

Number of hungry people, 1969-2010

Source: FAO

In round numbers there are 7 billion people in the world. Thus, with an estimated 925 million hungry people in the world, 13.1 percent, or almost 1 in 7 people are hungry.

The FAO estimate is based on statistical aggregates.  It looks at a country’s income level and income distribution and uses this information to estimate how many people receive such a low level of income that they are malnourished.  It is not an estimate based on seeing to what extent actual people are malnourished and projecting from there (as would be done by survey sampling). [It has been argued that the FAO approach is not sufficient to give accurate estimates of malnutrition (Poverty and Undernutrition p. 298 by Peter Svedberg).]