The world has a population of about 6.8 billion and growing. And well over one billion of us wake up, and go to bed, hungry.
I just spend a few weeks pretty much eating my way through France and Switzerland - eating more than I needed; and then some. Rich foods, lots of it not especially good for me, highly fattening and absolutely...delicious. And right in the middle of it, I see on the news that 1 billion of us are undernourished and hungry.
Kind of made me feel like I should put the fondue fork down and think about this a little.
Most of these hungry people are in developing nations although we also have a frightening amount of Americans who go to bed with an unsatisfied growl in their bellies.
The world wide global economy crash is blamed for the increase in hunger and the situation in getting worse. Small farmers in developing are facing some of the highest numbers in terms of poverty and hunger but the urban poor are also severely affected.
Experts believe the numbers will grow unless global support is given to small farmers and they are given full and fair access to technology and markets. The economic problems of the world are deeply affecting the urban poor, as work orders dry up and jobs are lost due to a lack of foreign orders and investment.
The breakdown of the hungry is as follows:
In Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 642 million people are suffering from chronic hunger; in Sub-Saharan Africa 265 million; in Latin America and the Caribbean 53 million; in the Near East and North Africa 42 million; and in the developed countries 15 million in total.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154756.php
Tell Us
Do these numbers surprise you? In a country where we worry about overeating and obesity constantly, how do you feel about the fact that 1 billion of our fellow human beings are hungry on a constant basis? What can we do to circumvent this?