Asia has 60% of the hungry people in the world, says UN

• Global Hunger has grown continuously from the past three years, says a UN report.
• And if we do a breakdown of the people who are hungry in the world, 60% of them live in Asia and another 30% lives in Africa.
• UN says that it might be an “immense challenge” to reach the target of zero hunger because more than 820 million people worldwide are still hungry.

More than 820 million people in the world are hungry, malnutritioned and suffer from food insecurity, according to the United Nations. This number grew by 9 million from last year, and has been growing for the last three years.

According to the report, Asia had 513.9 million hungry people in 2018

“In Asia, undernourishment affects 11% of the population. Although Southern Asia saw great progress over the last five years, at almost 15%, it is still the subregion with the highest prevalence of undernourishment,” reported the UN.

And, the global problem is raging on as well.

UN says that it might be an “immense challenge” to reach the target of zero hunger might be an” because more than 820 million people worldwide are still hungry.

“Global hunger is not going down. The numbers are still increasing and it is a reversal of a decade of decline,” said Cindy Holeman, FAO, co-author of the SOFI report.

Africa and Asia — a home to three quarters of obese children

Asia and Africa account for the highest share of malnutrition in the world. Nine out of ten stunted children and nine out of all wasted children globally live in either Asia or Africa.

“If we do a breakdown of the people who are hungry in the world, 60% of them live in Asia and another 30% lives in Africa,” says Cindy.

These two continents also have nearly three quarters of all obese children in the world, thanks to unhealthy diets.

Africa is hit the most by hunger and the levels are increasing slowly and steadily in all subregions. The situation is graver in Eastern Africa.

Lack of healthy food is affecting growth as well. The report notes that as many as 2 billion people suffer from food insecurity. Moreover, 21.9% of children under the age of 5 are affected by stunting whereas 7.3% of children (under 5) are affected by wasting.

On the flip, there are 338 million school-age children and adolescents who are overweight and one in every eight adults suffer from obesity.

“We must foster pro-poor and inclusive structural transformation, focusing on people and placing communities at the centre to reduce economic vulnerabilities and set ourselves on track to ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition,” says UN.