MDG hunger target at hand but 1 in 9 still undernourished

The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) hunger target is “within reach”, according to a new UN report released on 16 September that shows the proportion of chronically undernourished people in the world falling to 805 million in 2012-2014.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World (SOFI 2014) documented a decrease of more than 100 million people experiencing hunger over the last decade, 209 million lower than in 1990–92. The annual publication is released by the Rome food agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

The hunger target of MDG 1c – halving the proportion of undernourished people by the end of 2015 – is within reach "if appropriate and immediate efforts are stepped up", the report said. The prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 18.7 to 11.3 percent globally, 15 months ahead of the MDG target date.

To date, 63 developing countries have reached the MDG target, and six more are on track to reach it by 2015.