Almost a Billion People in the World are Starving

(TEHRAN Press TV) - The increasing price of food has spiked the number of hunger-stricken people in the world by 40 million to reach 923 million in 2008.

According to a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), more people will fall under the undernourished category if the current economic trend continues in the world.

"With a very large population and relatively slow progress in hunger reduction, nearly two-thirds (583 million) of the hungry live in Asia," the report adds.

Nearly 65 percent of these hunger stricken individuals live in India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Ethiopia and the Congo.

The hunger report issued by the UN body cites soaring food prices as the main reason behind the deepening crisis.

"Prices of major cereals have fallen by over 50 per cent from their peaks earlier in 2008, but they remain high compared to previous years."

While the 1996 World Food Summit had set the objective of halving the number of hungry people by 2015 and despite some countries' positive move toward this goal, the spike in food prices slowed their progress, the report says.

"The world hunger situation may further deteriorate as the financial crisis hits the real economies of more and more countries. Reduced demand in developed countries threatens incomes in developing countries via exports. Remittances, investments and other capital flows including development aid are also at risk. Emerging economies in particular are subject to lasting impacts from the credit crunch even if the crisis itself is short-lived," the UN body cautions.

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JAKE F August 21, 2009 8:41 am (Pacific time)

IM HUNGRY IMMA THROW OUT ALL THE FOOD I HAVE

JAKE F August 21, 2009 8:36 am (Pacific time)

IM HUNGRY IMMA THROW OUT ALL THE FOOD I HAVE

Steve August 17, 2009 1:34 pm (Pacific time)

I wonder what the global population was when Malthus offered his theory? What is it now? What was the average age at death then? And now? I remember clearly when so many died from starvation many years ago in Biafra, still going on all over the world, but not here, so far. As far as our technology to dial up food production, there are other considerations, ranging not just from a constantly growing population, but other factors such as two big ones, climate and insect infestations (in India approx. 25 to 35% of harvests destroyed by insects, and in Africa it is even worse in some locales). Also political unrest, economic downturns and on and on. Controlling our population growth is essential to help minimize future food shortages which seems to happen no matter what are technological advances are. Thomas Paine wrote a book about common sense, seems the phrase can be applicable to food, people and starvation as well as the political dynamic.

Henry Ruark August 16, 2009 1:06 pm (Pacific time)

Frank et al: It's almost as if you've never heard of Manifest Destiny, the Louisiana Purchase, the great Western movement --and all the strong agricutural, transportation, private property, law enforcement, welfare and safety net provisions we've enjoyed for 250 years in this nation. Did you never hear of the Future Farmers of America, strong pre-ag organization in thousands of U.S.high schools? So much for "government intervention" thrown in simply to obfuscate, denigrate, deny and make difficult progressive policy, by political pander to private-gain interests, some surely reacting from racism and dead failure of distorted true conservative principle and policy. Again, sir, you reveal your real intentions here by very awkward and obvious intent unmistakable in use of that phrase,tucked into supposedly good-faith comment.

Henry Ruark August 15, 2009 6:40 pm (Pacific time)

Frank: "Just common sense", you say, and make sure to list (government intervention) right along with Malthus myth from 1798. That clearly dates YOUR judgment, too, sir, since the facts are that the world CAN produce more than enough food, given the great advances made since 1798 --which you may not have noticed, with your attention firmly set on pandering to outdated political sentiment. What withholds food from these starving millions is the political nonsense formulated by pronounced, protracted neocon nonentities. Check out any normally produced world history published in the last decade, for facts and firm common sense at least partially up to the current 21st Century. Malthus malsaying has been rebutted, denied, long ago by consensus of sciences and by agricultural and world trade progress since War II.

Frank August 15, 2009 6:33 am (Pacific time)

Malthus 1798: "Assuming then my postulata as granted, I say, that the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio." There are good arguments that our technical abilities will help us produce enough food to feed the people, but is that working? Adding in potential planting and harvest problems (and government interventions), this doctrine/theory is just plain common sense.

Aliensinfotech August 15, 2009 3:34 am (Pacific time)

Chennai Corporation buildings will soon get solar photovoltaic panels, akin to those installed by Tamilnadu Energy development agency on the rooftop of its building in Chennai. While planning for a renovation, it had dawned in the minds of rulers to give a try to modern day technologies. A hailable move indeed as this method of power production is completely eco-friendly and does not release any harmful substances unlike conventional methods of power production Sun’s energy can never be emptied out with usage or by passage of time. So if the feasibility of extending the set-up to household and commercial units is well established, then that would be a revolutionary process. You would have studied in physics in your early school days that energy can be transformed from one form to another without any loss during the transit process. This idea – the brainchild of scientists has started paying dividends. The commissioner of Chennai Corporation has confirmed the news and added that the proposed multi-speciality hospital at Alwarpet and the modern auditorium at Shenoy Nagar in Chennai would also go solar. The focusing collectors present in the panels can withstand temperatures as high as 40000 degree Celsius. It’s amazing, right ? This heat will then be passed on to heat water flowing through the circuit to generate steam. The electrons in the special type of photovoltaic cells are made to come out from the influence of the nucleus of the atom and by applying proper bias or voltage, these electrons are made to move in a particular direction. What is electric current ? The energy which is felt in the direction opposite to the movement of electrons. So, the power is produced !!

Daniel August 14, 2009 12:37 pm (Pacific time)

A BILLION starving while millions in the developed nation die prematurely from over-consumption , this is a world out of balance !

Vic August 14, 2009 9:12 am (Pacific time)

In the time it took most of us to read this article, appx thirty children the age of five and under died from starvation and malnutrition related disease. But that is not our concern...we have weapons to build and most of our aid money goes to Israel anyways, where not only are people not starving, (except for the Palestinians) but the standard of living is higher than in the US. Our aid to Israel is seven times what we send to the whole continent of Africa. Why?

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Almost a Billion People in the World are Starving

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