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World hunger overestimated

Summary

11 October 2012

The United Nations has conceded that it has overestimated the number of people suffering from hunger around the world. But a new study has shown that about 870 million people are still chronically undernourished, a figure described as 'unacceptable'.

Reporter:

Alan Johnston

Report

A few years ago the United Nations announced that the number of hungry people around the world had gone through the one billion mark. But the UN agencies now say that at the time their data tended to exaggerate the problem. They say progress in the fight against hunger has actually been better than was thought.

But all the same, new and more accurate figures show that just under 870 million people are malnourished today. That's more than 12% of the global population. And in Africa the battle is being lost. More and more people there are hungry. One of the UN agency chiefs said that in this advanced age it was "entirely unacceptable" that 100 million children don't get enough to eat.

The report talked of the need for economic growth that might provide vulnerable communities with greater income-earning opportunities. But, as it looked for long-term solutions, the UN also spoke of the importance of good governance, political stability and the rule of law. The creation of conditions in which economies, and education and health services, might develop in the poorest parts of the world.