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A by-the-numbers look at global hunger and malnutrition

Almost a billion people around the world are still undernourished, despite success in fighting world hunger, the World Food Programme says. That's about 16 per cent of the population in the developing world.
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Roommates eat a meal together in their one-room house at Vani Chawl in Mumbai, India. By some estimates, up to 200 million people in India go to bed hungry each night. ((Rajanish Kakade/Associated Press))
 The latest figures from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization say 925 million people were undernourished in 2010.

As shocking as that number is, that's an improvement over the 1.02 billion who were hungry the year before and represents the first decline in 15 years.

The UN credits the drop to more favourable economic conditions and a fall in cereal prices. But it warns that recent food price increases could worsen the situation.

Here's a by-the-numbers look at the extent of hunger and malnutrition around the world:

98: Percentage of the world's hungry from developing countries.

75: Percentage who live in rural areas; the rest are in shanty towns.

67: Percentage who live in just seven countries (Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan).

60: Percentage who are women.

1.4 billion: Number of people who make less than $1.25 US per day.

578 million: Number undernourished in the Asia/Pacific region in 2010.

239 million: Number undernourished in sub-Saharan Africa.

148 million: Number of children in developing countries who are underweight.

8.8 million: Number of children who die every year before the age of five. 
A woman and child from Sierra Leone attend the launch of a program to provide free medical care to pregnant and breast-feeding women and children under five, at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown, on April 27, 2010. ((Nazia Parvez/Associated Press))

33: Percentage of child deaths associated with malnutrition.

42: Percentage of children under five in South Asia who are underweight.

33: Percentage of children under five in the developing world suffering from stunted growth.

2,100: Number of calories needed daily to lead a healthy life.

2,382: Total daily number of calories Canadians consumed in 2008. That's down from a peak of 2,513 per person in 2001.

50: Percentage increase in world wheat prices since June.

70: Percentage increase in world farm production needed by 2050 to meet population projections.

16: Percentage of the population of developing countries that was undernourished in 2010.

10: Millennium Development Goal's 2015 target for hunger percentage. 

10: Percentage of lifetime earnings lost when undernourished.

1: Rank of hunger and malnutrition on the list of the world top 10 health risks (more than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined).

Sources: World Food Programme, UNICEF, World Health Organization, World Health Report, World Bank

 

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