The total
population of the world is about 700 crores . In this, 92.5 crore people ( 13.1 per
cent, or almost 1 in 7) do not have
enough to eat, in the year 2010.The number of hungry people increased from 88
crore in 1970 to 92.5 crore people in 2010. Of this, 57.8 crore are in Asia
Pacific region, 23.9 crore are in Sub-Saharan Africa region, 5.3 crore are in
Latin America and the Caribbean region, 3.7 crore are in Near East and North
Africa, and 1.9 crore are in the developed countries.
60% of the
world’s hungrey are women. 50 per cent of the pregnant women in developing
countries lack proper maternal care, resulting in over 3 lakh maternal deaths
annually from Child birth.
Children
who are poorly nourished suffer up to 160 days of illness every year. 50 lakh
children die every year due to poor nutrition. Every 5 seconds, a child dies
from hunger related diseases. 22000 children die each day due to conditions of
poverty.32.5 per cent of the children in developing countries (one out of
three) suffer from malnutrition, as measured by stunting of the growth.
(Recently the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted the fact that 40 per cent
of the children in India are undernourished.)
104 crore
people in developing countries live on $ 1.25 a day or less. 107 crore people
lack access to clean water. 203 crore people suffer from water borne diseases
each year. 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 per cent of its water,
and none of the 12 per cent lives in the developing countries.
The reason
for the hunger is not that the world is not producing enough food. The world
agriculture produces enough food to feed every one. It produces 17 per cent
more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent
population increase. This is enough to provide every one with atleast 2720
kilocalories per person per day. The problem is that the poor people do not
have enough money with them to purchase enough food.
\
But why
poverty is there? Because of the unequal distribution of wealth and the
increase in the economic inequalities.
(Sources:
The websites www.worldhunger.org, and www.thp.org)
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