The number of people in the world who are “chronically undernourished” has fallen below the 800m mark for the first time in 25 years, figures from the United Nations (UN) show.
The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 report, published jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), demonstrates a steady decline in the number of people in food poverty worldwide since 2005. Nearly 100m fewer people are considered as “hungry” now compared to three years ago, rising to 216m over 1990.
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A majority of countries monitored by the FAO – 72 out of 129 – have achieved their target of halving the prevalence of undernourishment by 2015, set out as part of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals – a series of eight objectives for eradicating world poverty, wealth imbalance and hunger – back in 2000.
FAO director general José Graziano da Silva said: The near-achievement of the MDG hunger targets shows us that we can indeed eliminate the scourge of hunger in our lifetime.”
Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Programme, said: “Men, women and children need nutritious food every day to have any chance of a free and prosperous future.
“Healthy bodies and minds are fundamental to both individual and economic growth, and that growth must be inclusive for us to make hunger history.”
And Kanayo F Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agriculture Development, added: “[We must make it] a priority to invest in the rural areas of developing countries where most of the world’s poorest and hungriest people live.
“We must work to create a transformation in our rural communities so they provide decent jobs, decent conditions and decent opportunities. We must invest in rural areas so that our nations can have balanced growth and so that the 3bn people who live in rural areas can fulfil their potential.”
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