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One Billion People Around the World Suffer from Hunger

Added by viorel on Jun 25, 2009 | Visited by 4467 | Voted by 51 persons

According to UN today there are one billion people across the world that suffer from hunger. Due to the global financial crisis the number increased by 100 million. Experts at UN\'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) say that the figure reached a record high mark. An increase in the number of people suffering from hunger was also generated by continuously increasing prices for food. Over 15 percent of the world\'s population poses a risk to peace and security on the globe. The statement comes from the general director of FAO.







Developing countries house the largest number of the world\'s undernourished, with Asia-Pacific region being number one in the list with 642 million people. The second comes the sub-Saharan Africa, where there are 265 million people starving. The developed countries leave about 15 million hungry. \"We urgently need to forge a broad consensus on the total and rapid eradication of hunger in the world and to take the necessary actions,\" said Jacques Diouf.



The UN agency stated that today more people suffer from hunger due to lower incomes and a continuously rising rate of unemployment, which considerably reduces people\'s access to food and clean water.







At the same time, with a drastic increase in the number of poor people, most of the developed world becomes wealthier than ever before. While the number of hungry people reached the highest point in human history, a lot of countries become much richer in spite of the financial crisis, said FAO spokesman Kostas Stamoulis, who holds the position of director of the organization\'s development department. The contradiction here is clear. Mr. Diouf believes it is important for the governments to support the development of agriculture, especially to provide economic assistance to smallholder farmers. It is worth mentioning that the majority of developing countries have a poor agricultural sector, which is the most important field for these countries to explore in order to deal with poverty and hunger. In addition, agricultural sector could drive the world\'s economic growth.







According to the UK\'s international development ministry (Dfid) the numbers were \"a scandal\". The ministry also mentioned that it was providing help to some of the world\'s poorest farmers in order to increase the amount of food they grow. The biggest problems will surround poor people living in cities, where the global economic crisis led to an increased rate of unemployment, with millions of people losing their jobs. The crisis also led to a decrease in the export demand and cuts in foreign investment. The majority of migrants will most likely switch from cities to rural areas.







The incomes registered a significant drop in the developing countries that depend on remittances coming from relatives who work abroad. There is just not enough space for developing countries today, with the crisis affecting all parts of the world. Although the prices in the world markets are plunging, food costs in developing countries are even more expensive. \"For poor consumers, who spend up to 60 percent of their incomes on staple foods, this means a strong reduction in their effective purchasing power,\" the FAO said.