×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

Ten things to know about world hunger

by Thin Lei Win | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Tuesday, 11 September 2018 12:53 GMT

Internally displaced people wait for food distribution at an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Bunia, Ituri province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Image Caption and Rights Information

Globally 821 million people, or one in nine, do not have enough food to eat

By Thin Lei Win

ROME, Sept 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Global hunger rose in 2017 for a third consecutive year, fuelled by conflict and climate change, the United Nations revealed in a report published on Tuesday. Obesity levels also increased.

Here are some facts and figures from the report.

- World hunger levels rose in 2017 for the third consecutive year.

- Globally 821 million people, or one in nine, do not have enough food to eat.

- In sub-Saharan Africa, more than one in four may have suffered from chronic hunger in 2017.

- Asia has the largest number of undernourished people due to is sheer size - 515 million.

- Nearly 151 million children under five suffered from stunting due to malnutrition, a condition that hampers physical and mental development.

- More than 50 million children under five are too thin for their height and more than 38 million are overweight.

- One in eight adults - 672 million - is obese.

- Almost 36 percent of countries that experienced a rise in hunger since 2005 also suffered from severe drought.

- Floods cause more climate-related disasters globally than any other extreme climate event.

- Between 2011 and 2016, 51 low- and middle-income countries experienced early or delayed onset of seasons.

(SOURCE:- The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017, World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNICEF, World Food Programme) (Reporting By Thin Lei Win @thinink, Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

-->