Global Hunger & Poverty
- Each day, over 25,000 children under the age of 5 die from preventable diseases such as malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infections. Malnutrition is associated with over half of those deaths.
- More than 1 billion people in the world don't get enough to eat. That's one of every seven people on the planet.
- 143 million children under age 5 in the developing world are underweight because of poor nutrition. That's about one in three children in developing countries.
- In the last 50 years, 400 million people worldwide have died from hunger and poor sanitation. That's three times the number of people killed in all wars fought in the entire 20th century.
- Moderately underweight children are more than four times more likely to die from infectious disease than are well-nourished children. And under-nutrition contributes to 53 percent of deaths among children under 5 globally.
- Countries in which a large portion of the population battles hunger daily are usually poor and often lack the social safety nets we enjoy, such as soup kitchens, food stamps, and job training programs. When a family that lives in a poor country cannot grow enough food or earn enough money to buy food, there is nowhere to turn for help.
- Of the 6.6 billion people in today's world, 2.1 billion live on less than $2 per day.
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Domestic Hunger & Poverty
- 35.5 million people - including 12.6 million children - live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents more than one in ten households in the United States (10.9 percent).
- 4.0 percent of U.S. households experience hunger. Some people in these households frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for a whole day. 11.1 million people, including 430 thousand children, live in these homes.
- 6.9 percent of U.S. households are at risk of hunger. Members of these households have lower quality diets or must resort to seeking emergency food because they cannot always afford the food they need. 24.4 million people - including 12.2 million children - live in these homes.
- Preschool and school-aged children who experience severe hunger have higher levels of chronic illness, anxiety and depression, and behavior problems than children with no hunger, according to a recent study.
(Sources: Bread for the World, Hunger Basics, 2008; World Bank World Development Report, 2008; UNICEF, 2008; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009)
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