wfn.org | Millions worldwide live with hunger

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 5, 2002  News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.   10-71B{345}

NOTE: This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #344.

By United Methodist News Service

In the United States, 33 million people are living in households that
experience hunger or are at risk of hunger. More than 800 million people
worldwide are malnourished. 

Bread for the World, a Christian citizens' movement, provides sobering
statistics on U.S. and world hunger:

7	One in 10 people in the United States (10 percent) lives in a
household that experiences hunger or the risk of hunger.
7	 3.1 percent of U.S. households frequently skip meals or eat too
little, sometimes going without food for a whole day. Nearly 8.5 million
people, including 2.9 million children, live in these homes. 
7	7.3 percent of U.S. households have lower-quality diets or must
resort to seeking emergency food because they cannot always afford the food
they need. An estimated 24.7 million people, including 9.9 million children,
live in these homes.
7	In developing countries, 91 children out of 1,000 die before their
fifth birthday. By comparison, in the United States eight children in 1,000
will die before turning 5 years old. 
7	More than 800 million people in the world are malnourished, and 777
million of those people are from the developing world. 
7	The wealthiest one-fifth of the world's people consumes 86 percent
of all goods, and services, while the poorest one-fifth consumes 1 percent. 

Virtually every country in the world has the potential of growing sufficient
food on a sustainable basis, according to Bread for the World. The Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has set the minimum
requirement for caloric intake per person per day at 2,350. Worldwide, there
are 2,720 calories available per person per day. 

However, 54 countries fall below that requirement; they do not produce
enough food to feed their populations, nor can they afford to import the
necessary commodities to make up the gap. Most of those countries are in
sub-Saharan Africa.
 
More information is available at www.bread.org online.

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United Methodist News Service
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