The two UN organization’s aiming to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to halve hunger by 2015, will publish a report detailing a improvement in global hunger numbers from 2009 to 2010. The overall number of hungry people around the globe, however, remains remarkably high.
Anticipating the release of the joint report in October from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), titled, “The State of Food Insecurity in the World” (SOFI), the organizations revealed that “The new estimate of the number of people who will suffer chronic hunger this year is 925 million — 98 million down from 1.023 billion in 2009.”
The improvement in the number of hungry is attributed to a combination of lower food prices, coupled with economic growth in developing countries. Several of these countries have reported that they have already achieved the first MDG, including Armenia, Congo, Ghana, Guyana, Jamaica, Mali, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Vietnam. Brazil, China, Ethiopia have reported that they are close to meeting the first MDG.
The findings of the report indicate that although economic growth has been helpful in improving hunger in developing countries, where 98% of the hungry live. The preponderance of hungry people in these countries points to structural causes of food shortages which need to be remedied for long-term results.
