Over a billion hungry people

By Jerry White:

UN reports 1 billion of the world’s people going hungry

18 September 2009

For the first time in history, more than one billion people, or nearly one in every 6 inhabitants of the planet, are going hungry this year, according to a new report from the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP).

Chronic poverty, still high food prices and the impact of the world economic crisis have led to a sharp increase in the number of hungry people, now larger than the combined populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon warned on Thursday that there are no green shoots of economic recovery for the world’s “working poor”: here.

A UN agency has warned that poor crop prospects, conflict and forced migration are likely to push small farmers, pastoralists and the urban poor into hunger in the Horn of Africa this year: here.

The International Monetary Fund predicts that per-capita income in sub-Saharan Africa will decline for the first time in a decade this year, with South Africa’s economy contracting more than previously forecast: here.

Free Trade, Loss of Support Systems Crippling Food Production in Africa: here.

More of world’s poor live in India than in all sub-Saharan Africa, says study: here.