Saturday, December 08, 2012
2012 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics
2012
World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics
Hunger
is a term which has three meanings
(Oxford English Dictionary 1971)
> the uneasy or painful sensation
caused by want of food; craving appetite. Also the exhausted condition caused
by want of food.> the want or scarcity of food in a country
> a strong desire or craving
World
hunger refers to the second definition,
aggregated to the world level. The related technical term (in this case
operationalized in medicine) is malnutrition.1
Malnutrition is a general term that indicates a lack of some or all
nutritional elements necessary for human health (Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia).
There
are two basic types of malnutrition. The first and most important is
protein-energy malnutrition--the lack of enough protein (from meat and other
sources) and food that provides energy (measured in calories) which all of the
basic food groups provide. This is the type of malnutrition that is referred to
when world hunger is discussed. The second type of malnutrition, also very
important, is micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. This is not the
type of malnutrition that is referred to when world hunger is discussed, though
it is certainly very important.
[Recently
there has also been a move to include obesity as a third form of malnutrition.
Considering obesity as malnutrition expands the previous usual meaning of the
term which referred to poor nutrition due to lack of food inputs.
It is poor nutrition, but it is certainly not typically due to a lack of
calories, but rather too many (although poor food choices, often due to
poverty, are part of the problem). Obesity will not be considered here,
although obesity is certainly a health problem and is increasingly considered
as a type of malnutrition.]
Protein-energy
malnutrition (PEM) is the most lethal form of
malnutrition/hunger. It is basically a lack of calories and protein. Food is
converted into energy by humans, and the energy contained in food is measured
by calories. Protein is necessary for key body functions including provision of
essential amino acids and development and maintenance of muscles.
The
FAO estimate is based on statistical aggregates. The FAO first estimates the
total food supply of a country and derives the average per capita daily food
intake from that. The distribution of average food intake for people in the
country is then estimated from surveys measuring food expenditure. Using this
information, and minimum food energy requirements, FAO estimates how many
people are likely to receive such a low level of food intake that they are
undernourished.3
Undernutrition
is a relatively new concept, but is increasingly used. It should be taken as
similar to malnutrition. (It should be said as an aside, that the idea of
undernourishment, its relationship to malnutrition, and the reasons for its
emergence as a concept is not clear to Hunger Notes.)
Children
are the most visible victims of undernutrition. Children who are poorly
nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness each year. Poor nutrition plays a
role in at least half of the 10.9 million child deaths each year--five million
deaths. Undernutrition magnifies the effect of every disease, including measles
and malaria. The estimated proportions of deaths in which undernutrition is an
underlying cause are roughly similar for diarrhea (61%), malaria (57%),
pneumonia (52%), and measles (45%) (Black 2003, Bryce 2005). Malnutrition can
also be caused by diseases, such as the diseases that cause diarrhea, by
reducing the body's ability to convert food into usable nutrients.
According
to the most recent estimate that Hunger Notes could find, malnutrition, as
measured by stunting, affects 32.5 percent of children in developing
countries--one of three (de Onis 2000). Geographically, more than 70 percent of
malnourished children live in Asia, 26 percent in Africa and 4 percent in Latin
America and the Caribbean. In many cases, their plight began even before birth
with a malnourished mother. Under-nutrition among pregnant women in developing
countries leads to 1 out of 6 infants born with low birth weight. This is not
only a risk factor for neonatal deaths, but also causes learning disabilities,
mental, retardation, poor health, blindness and premature death.
The
world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17
percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70
percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world
with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day according to the
most recent estimate that we could find.(FAO 2002, p.9). The principal problem
is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income
to purchase, enough food.
What
are the causes of hunger is a fundamental question, with varied answers.
Poverty
is the principal cause of hunger. The
causes of poverty include poor people's lack of resources, an extremely unequal
income distribution in the world and within specific countries, conflict, and
hunger itself. As of 2008 (2005 statistics), the World Bank has estimated that
there were an estimated 1,345 million poor people in developing countries who
live on $1.25 a day or less.3
This compares to the later FAO estimate of 1.02 billion undernourished people. Extreme
poverty remains an alarming problem in the world’s developing regions, despite
some progress that reduced "dollar--now $1.25-- a day" poverty from
(an estimated) 1900 million people in 1981, a reduction of 29 percent over the
period. Progress in poverty reduction has been concentrated in Asia, and
especially, East Asia, with the major improvement occurring in China. In
Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased. The
statement that 'poverty is the principal cause of hunger' is, though correct,
unsatisfying. Why then are (so many) people poor? The next section summarizes
Hunger Notes answer.
Harmful
economic systems are the principal cause of poverty and hunger. Hunger Notes believes that the
principal underlying cause of poverty and hunger is the ordinary operation of
the economic and political systems in the world. Essentially control over
resources and income is based on military, political and economic power that
typically ends up in the hands of a minority, who live well, while those at the
bottom barely survive, if they do. We have described the operation of this
system in more detail in our special section on Harmful economic
systems.
Conflict
as a cause of hunger and poverty.
At the end of 2005, the global number of refugees was at its lowest level in
almost a quarter of a century. Despite some large-scale repatriation movements,
the last three years have witnessed a significant increase in refugee numbers,
due primarily to the violence taking place in Iraq and Somalia. By the end of
2008, the total number of refugees under UNHCR’s mandate exceeded 10 million.
The number of conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) reached some
26 million worldwide at the end of the year . Providing exact figures on the
number of stateless people is extremely difficult But, important, (relatively)
visible though it is, and anguishing for those involved conflict is less
important as poverty (and its causes) as a cause of hunger. (Using the
statistics above 1.02 billion people suffer from chronic hunger while 36
million people are displaced [UNHCR 2008])
Hunger
is also a cause of poverty, and thus of hunger. By causing poor health, low levels
of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger can lead to even greater poverty
by reducing people's ability to work and learn, thus leading to even greater
hunger.
Climate
change Climate change
is increasingly viewed as a current and future cause of hunger and poverty. Increasing
drought, flooding, and changing climatic patterns requiring a shift in crops
and farming practices that may not be easily accomplished are three key issues.
See the Hunger Notes special report: Hunger, the
environment, and climate change for further information, especially
articles in the section: Climate change, global warming and the effect on poor
people such as Global warming causes 300,000 deaths a year, study says
and Could food shortages bring down civilization?
The
target set at the 1996 World Food Summit was to halve the number of
undernourished people by 2015 from their number in 1990-92. (FAO uses three
year averages in its calculation of undernourished people.) The (estimated)
number of undernourished people in developing countries was 824 million in
1990-92. In 2010, the number had climbed to 925 million people. The WFS goal is
a global goal adopted by the nations of the world; the present outcome
indicates how marginal the efforts were in face of the real need.
So,
overall, the world is not making progress toward the world food summit goal,
although there has been progress in Asia, and in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
Quite
a few trace elements or micronutrients--vitamins and minerals--are important
for health. 1 out of 3 people in developing countries are affected by vitamin
and mineral deficiencies, according to the World Health Organization. Three,
perhaps the most important in terms of health consequences for poor people in
developing countries, are:
Vitamin
A Vitamin A
deficiency can cause night blindness and reduces the body's resistance to
disease. In children Vitamin A deficiency can also cause growth retardation.
Between 100 and 140 million children are vitamin A deficient. An estimated
250,000 to 500 000 vitamin A-deficient children become blind every year, half
of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight. (World Health
Organization)
Iron Iron deficiency is a principal cause
of anemia. Two billion people—over 30 percent of the world’s population—are anemic, mainly due to iron deficiency, and, in
developing countries, frequently exacerbated by malaria and worm infections.
For children, health consequences include premature birth, low birth weight,
infections, and elevated risk of death. Later, physical and cognitive
development are impaired, resulting in lowered school performance. For pregnant
women, anemia contributes to 20 percent of all maternal deaths (World Health
Organization).
Iodine Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD)
jeopardize children´s mental health– often their
very lives. Serious iodine deficiency during pregnancy may result in
stillbirths, abortions and congenital abnormalities such as cretinism, a grave,
irreversible form of mental retardation that affects people living in
iodine-deficient areas of Africa and Asia. IDD also causes mental impairment
that lowers intellectual prowess at home, at school, and at work. IDD affects
over 740 million people, 13 percent of the world’s population. Fifty million
people have some degree of mental impairment caused by IDD (World Health
Organization).
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