Child hunger - the facts
Hunger and malnutrition represent the number one risk to the health of children worldwide – greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
Every six seconds a child dies of hunger or hunger-related causes
1.02 billion people do not have enough to eat - more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union
10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths
The cost of undernutrition to national economic development is estimated at US$20-30 billion per annum
One out of four children - roughly 146 million - in developing countries are underweight;
Hunger and poverty claim 25 000 lives every day
(Source wfp.org/hunger/stats)
The challenge of chronic hunger
The long-term problems created by chronic hunger in children are immense. If children survive their early years without their nutritional requirements being sufficiently met, they may ultimately be unable to live active and normal lives.
Photo courtesy of WFP/Benedicte Pansier.
Vitamin or mineral deficiencies, the so-called hidden hunger, make children more susceptible to infectious diseases. Their physical and mental growth is impaired, sometimes even causing permanent brain damage or mental retardation.
Consequently hunger does not only impact on young lives, it also weakens the productivity of entire countries' workforces, trapping developing economies in a vicious circle of poverty.
* Source: annual FAO report on the State of Food Insecurity in the World, 2006.
