1.2 billion people in the World starving

According to new figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) one in six people of the world are starving. Compared with last year, there are 100 million more people who are hungry meaning they receive less than 1,800 calories a day. Director General Jacques Diouf of the FAO talked to journalists saying this is a historic high due largely to the global economic crisis and stubbornly high food prices.

Almost all of the of the worlds undernourished live in developing countries, where food prices have decreased at a slower rate than in the richer nations. The FAO report went on to say that the poor countries need more aid and agricultural investment to cope. The global economic crisis has compounded the problem for people dealing with pay cuts and job losses, in the developed world there are estimated to be about 15 million now hungry. Read more...