The Top 5 Countries with the Most Hunger

  Country Number of people undernourished Percentage of Population Undernourished
1 India 190.7 million 10.6%
2 China 150.8 million 15.2%
3 Pakistan 39.6 million> 21.7%
4 Ethiopia 32.9 million 35%
5 Bangladesh 26.2 million 16.7%
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 Special Report
  1. About 870 million people are estimated to have been undernourished (in terms of dietary energy supply) in the period 2010–12. This figure represents 12.5 percent of the global population, or one in eight people. The vast majority of these, 852 million, live in developing countries, where the prevalence of undernourishment is now estimated at 14.9 percent of the population
  2. Asia and the Pacific is home to the largest number of hungry people (642 million) while Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence of hunger, with more than one in three people being undernourished.
  3. Hunger in the world has been on the rise for the past decade and the declining trend in the proportion of undernourished people in developing countries has been reversed over the last few years. The number of hungry people increased between 1995 and 1997 and between 2004 and 2006 in all regions except Latin America and the Caribbean. The three main groups which are most at risk of hunger are: the rural poor, the urban poor, and victims of catastrophes.
  4. Undernourishment exists when caloric intake is below the minimum dietary energy requirement (MDER). The MDER is the amount of energy needed for light activity and a minimum acceptable weight for attained height, and it varies by country and from year to year depending on the gender and age structure of the population.
  5. Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Household food security is the application of this concept to the family level, with individuals within households as the focus of concern. Food insecurity exists when people do not have adequate physical, social or economic access to food as defined above.
Top 5 facts sources:
a. FAO Report 2009: The State of Food Security in the World - Economic crises - impacts and lessons learned.
b. FAO report: The State of Food Security in the World 2012.
Tags: Farming & Agriculture Statistics, Health Statistics, Top 5 Highest, Food & Drink

Sources:  FAO Report 2014: The State of Food Security in the World.

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List Notes: Data is total number of undernourished people for the years 2012 to 2014. The words "hunger" and "undernourishment" can be used interchangeably.

Please note: countries, areas and territories for which there were insufficient or not reliable data to conduct the assessment are not reported. These include: American Samoa, Andorra, Anguilla, Aruba, Bahrain, Bhutan, British Virgin Islands, Burundi, Canton and Enderbury Islands, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cook Islands, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Faeroe Islands, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Greenland, Guadeloupe, Guam, Holy See, Johnston Island, Libya, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Micronesia (Federated States of), Midway Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Réunion, Saint Helena, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia (the Federal Republic of), Syrian Arab Republic, Tokelau, Tonga, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, United States Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Western Saha
Countries with the Most Hunger

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