Figure of world's hungriest declines by 100 million

The number of hungry people across the globe declined by
more than 100 million over the last decade and by more
than 200 million since 1990-92.
However, about 805 million people are still grappling with
hunger across various parts of the world.
This, as disclosed by the State of Food Insecurity in the
World (SOFI 2014) in the report published annually by the
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World
Food Programme (WFP), shows that the Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of
undernourished people by 2015, is within reach, if
appropriate and immediate efforts are stepped up.
To date, 63 developing countries have reached the MDG
target, and six more are on track to reach it by 2015.
"This is proof that we can win the war against hunger and
should inspire countries to move forward, with the
assistance of the international community as needed," the
heads of FAO, IFAD and WFP, José Graziano da Silva,
Kanayo F. Nwanze and Ertharin Cousin, wrote in their
foreword to the report.
They stressed that "accelerated, substantial and
sustainable hunger reduction is possible with the requisite
political commitment," and that "this has to be well
informed by sound understanding of national challenges,
relevant policy options, broad participation and lessons
from other experiences."
SOFI 2014 noted how access to food has improved rapidly
and significantly in countries that have experienced overall
economic progress, notably in Eastern and South-Eastern
Asia.
Access to food has also improved in Southern Asia and
Latin America, but mainly in countries with adequate safety
nets and other forms of social protection including for the
rural poor. Hunger reduction has accelerated, but some lag
behind.
Despite significant progress overall, several regions and
sub-regions continue to lag behind. In Sub-Saharan Africa,
more than one in four people remain chronically
undernourished, while Asia, the world's most populous
region, is also home to the majority of the hungry - 526
million people.
Latin America and the Caribbean have made the greatest
overall strides in increasing food security. Meanwhile,
Oceania has accomplished only a modest improvement (1.7
per cent decline) in the prevalence of undernourishment,
which stood at 14.0 per cent in 2012-14, and has actually
seen the number of its hungry increase since 1990-92.
The agency heads noted that of the 63 countries, which
have reached the MDG target, 25 have also achieved the
more ambitious World Food Summit (WFS) target of halving
the number of undernourished people by 2015. However, the
report indicated that time has run out on reaching the WFS
target at the global level.
Meanwhile, with the number of undernourished people
remaining "unacceptably high", the agency heads, stressed
the need to renew the political commitment to tackle hunger
and to transform it into concrete actions.