The United Nations agencies of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP), along with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), published on Friday 19 June, the most recent estimates regarding hunger worldwide. While the statistics are alarming, the findings are really not surprising.

These agencies declare that global malnutrition and hunger reach a peak in 2009. To be exact, there are now 1.02 billion people around the world that are suffering from hunger and malnutrition. This is an 11% hike compared to 2008. For the first time, the limits have exceeded the dreaded 1 billion cap.

In 2005, they were around 870 million who suffered from hunger. According to these three institutions, the current economic crisis has gradually erased the progress made in recent years in the fight against hunger.

For the FAO, “The recent worsening of hunger in the world is not the result of bad harvests at the global level, [but] the economic crisis that has caused declining income and job losses.” Six months ago, the agency estimated the number of hunger victims in 2008 to have increased significantly to 963 million people, in spite of record global cereal productions. The global economic meltdown, however, has further reduced the access of the poor to food.

The consequences of the global recession have impacted on world hunger among populations of the world. Declining exports have left workers unemployed. There have been layoffs in the mining industry and tourism, among other fields. There has been a decline in remittances of family members who are earning a living abroad. All these conditions are prevalent, most markedly, in much of Asia today.

For many families, the economic crisis has reduced disposable income. This, combined with high food prices, causes the rise in world hunger today.

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Via BBC/suite101.com