| Availability of food: How countries compare |
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Over the past 25 years, the proportion of chronically undernourished people has declined. |
The world is faced with starvation in the midst of plenty. The majority of the world's poor and undernourished people live in 82 low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs). Both Kiribati and Honduras fall into this category and are dependent on food aid Their stamps shown above commemorate the International Conference on Nutrition in 1992. |
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People often go hungry even though food is available because they are too poor to buy it. In the 1943 Bengal famine 2-3 million died, although there was no overall food shortage, because an economic boom raised prices beyond the reach of the poor.
Most of the world's poor and undernourished live in 82 countries that cannot produce enough food to feed their populations and lack the financial resources to make up the deficit through imports.
FAO places special emphasis on improving food production and availability in these low-income food-deficit countries. It is helping farmers in high-potential areas to increase food supplies through sustainable but intensive agriculture. At the same time, subsistence cultivators in areas with poor soil or unreliable rainfall are being encouraged to diversify so as to increase self-reliance and protect the environment. Twenty-five years ago, 41 percent of the people of East Asia were hungry; by 1992 this proportion had fallen to 16 percent, despite an increase in population of over 500 million. Over the same period the proportion malnourished in Latin America dropped from 18 percent to 14 percent, and in the Near East from 25 percent to 10 percent. Food availability in Africa has improved recently, but the average intake of little more than 2 000 calories a day indicates that many people still receive less than that.
Low-income food-deficit countries
Low-income food-deficit countries, 1996
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Summary forecasts (July/August 1994)
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Summary forecasts (September/October 1994)
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The Foodcrops and Shortages Special Reports - issued by FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS) - provide up-to-date accounts, country by country, of crop conditions, production prospects and the national food supply situation in both developing and developed countries. Reports specify those countries with severe food shortages and identify those where current crop conditions give cause for concern.
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