Hunger FAQs
Facts about hunger and climate change
Worldwide, 795 million people are hungry – in other words, they do not have access to enough nutritious foods each day to lead active and productive lives. More than 1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty – a third of these are children under the age of 13. In low-income countries, more than 50 per cent of all children live in extreme poverty.
Poor nutrition causes 45 per cent of the 6.3 million preventable deaths in children under age 5 – approximately 2.8 million children each year. In 2015, 159 million children were stunted and 50 million suffered from wasting; most live in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, 2 billion people are micronutrient deficient, meanwhile another 2 billion are overweight or obese.
Climate change could reduce yields from rain-fed crops in parts of Africa by 50 per cent as early as 2020, resulting in an additional 24 million undernourished children and putting between 40 and 170 million more people at risk of hunger worldwide.
It is estimated that by 2100, up to 40 per cent of the global land surface will have to adapt to altered climates. Projections also indicate that agriculture production could fall 2 per cent per decade at a time when the food demand will be increasing at 14 per cent per decade.
To learn more about the connection of climate change, food and agriculture view the following videos: