February 10, 2000
The Prevalence of Hunger
With approximately 31 million people at risk, a new report suggests that the United States is the only industrialized country with widespread hunger.
The report indicates that 3.6% of American households are hungry and 10.2% of households are at risk of hunger.
"As much as we'd like to think that ours is a generous society, the fact is that the richest country in the
world does less than any other developed nation to combat pervasive hunger," says David Beckmann,
president of Bread for the World, a nationwide citizens' movement against hunger based in Silver Spring,
Md.
Bread for the World argues that the United States could cut the number of its hungry to 16 million for $5
billion a year, which breaks down to a cost of $18 per person per year. The U.S.
government would have to contribute $1 billion more each year to lead the international effort to cut
hunger, the organization says.
The group advocates expanding the food stamp program and increasing the minimum wage by $1 over the next two years.
One in 10 U.S. families cannot always afford the food they need, according to recent data
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Approximately 19 million adults and 12 million children live in these
homes.
Hunger in the Developing World
One person in five suffers from persistent hunger worldwide, compared to one in three 25
years ago. That translates to 791 million hungry people in the developing world.
By region, South Asia contains 283.9 million hungry people; East and Southeast Asia, 241.6 million;
Sub-Saharan Africa, 179.6 million; Latin America, 53.4 million; Near East and North Africa, 32.9 million.
The worst conditions continue to exist in sub-Saharan Africa, where one out of every three
people is hungry or undernourished. Causes of African hunger include: high government debt burdens, inadequate funding for health and
education, pervasive poverty, poor agricultural productivity on fragile lands, weak government institutions
and the AIDS pandemic.
By 2020, one in four children under the age of five - as many as 135 million children - will be chronically
undernourished in the developing world, compared to one in every three children in 1995.
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