The Top 5 Countries with the Highest Prevalence of Undernourished Populations

  Country Percentage of Population Undernourished
1 Burundi 73.4%
2 Eritrea 65.4%
3 Zambia 47.4%
4 Haiti 44.5%
5 Ethiopia 40.2%
Share on Social Media:
 Special Report
  1. As of 2009, the FAO estimates that 1.02 billion people are undernourished worldwide. This is the highest number since 1970, the earliest year for which comparable statistics are available.
  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: FAO Report 2009: The State of Food Security in the World - Economic crises - impacts and lessons learned.
Tags: Health Statistics, Top 5 Highest, Food & Drink

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

Maybe you can help fight these terrible statistics: Donate to The World Food Programme today.

List Notes: Data is prevalence of undernourishment in total population for the years 2010 to 2012. The words "hunger" and "undernourishment" can be used interchangeably. Please note, the 2014 data contains countries, areas and territories on this top 5 list for which there were insufficient or not reliable data to conduct the assessment are not reported (including Burundi and Eritrea). In that case the data presented here is for 2012.
Countries with the Highest Prevalence of Undernourished Populations

Related Top 5 Lists