More than 1 billion people hungry worldwide in 2009

[dcsmart]

Humanity will achieve the dubious distinction this year of having more than 1 billion members of its species living in hunger for the first time in history.

The number of undernourished is estimated to soar by about 100 million over last year, to 1.02 billion, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The 11 percent surge in the world’s hungry is primarily a product of the global economic crisis, combined with persistently high food prices. World economic output is expected to decline by more than 3 percent this year—the first global contraction since the Second World War. The economic crisis, the FAO notes, “has reduced incomes and employment opportunities of the poor and significantly lowered their access to food.”
Text

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/hung-j20.shtml


US: 12 million children face hunger and food insecurity

More than 12 million children are threatened with the risk of inadequate food and hunger in the US, according to a new report from the food bank advocacy Feeding America.

Significantly, the study found that more than 3.5 million children under the age of five face hunger. This figure amounts to fully 17 percent—one in every six—of American children age five and under.
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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/food-m11.shtml

Child Food Insecurity in the United States: 2005 -- 2007
http://feedingamerica.org/our-network/the-studies/child-food-insecurity.aspx

[imdjh]

1. I'd be interested in some definitions as far as hunger in the US goes

It's hard to imagine 12 million starving people in the US.

[NMMNG]

2. Hunger doesn't necessarily mean "starving"

But quality of life, and health, are greatly compromised if you go hungry routinely and/or don't have access to nutritionally adequate food.

http://feedingamerica.org/faces-of-hunger/hunger-101/hunger-and-poverty-statistics.aspx

[Hoopla Phil]

3. Good point. Hell, I'm hungry right now. . .