The number
of hungry people in the world has dropped to 795 million -- 216 million fewer
than in 1990-92 -- or around one person out of every nine, according to the
latest edition of the annual United Nation’s hunger report
In the
developing regions, the prevalence of undernourishment – which measures the
proportion of people who are unable to consume enough food for an active and
healthy life -- has declined to 12.9 percent of the population, down from 23.3
percent a quarter of a century ago.
A majority
- 72 out of 129 – of the countries monitored by UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) have achieved the Millennium Development Goal target of
halving the prevalence of undernourishment by 2015, with developing regions as
a whole missing the target by a small margin.
In
addition, 29 countries have met the more ambitious goal laid out at the World
Food Summit in 1996, when governments committed to halving the absolute number
of undernourished people by 2015.
“The
near-achievement of the hunger targets shows us that we can indeed eliminate
the scourge of hunger in our lifetime,” said FAO director general José Graziano
da Silva.
“We must be
the Zero Hunger generation.
“That goal
should be mainstreamed into all policy interventions and at the heart of the
new sustainable development agenda to be established this year," he said.
"If we
truly wish to create a world free from poverty and hunger, then we must make it
a priority to invest in the rural areas of developing countries where most of
the world's poorest and hungriest people live," said Kanayo F. Nwanze,
president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
"We
must work to create a transformation in our rural communities so they provide
decent jobs, decent conditions and decent opportunities.
“We must
invest in rural areas so that our nations can have balanced growth and so that
the three billion people who live in rural areas can fulfill their potential.”
The World
Food Programme also issued an urgent call today for food for hungry people in
South Sudan.
