Population and the Achievement of MDG 1.C: Halve, Between 1990 and 2015 the Proportion of People Who Suffer from Hunger

According to the FAO, since 1990-92 the prevalence of world hunger in developing countries has declined from 23.2% (980 million people) to 14.9% (852 million people) in 2010-12. Most of this decline occurred prior to 2006 and the economic crisis and increased food prices have slowed declines since. Future progress is threatened by a recent surge in food prices driven by weather extremes including a weak monsoon in India, and a crop-withering drought and heat wave in the U.S. Corn Belt. And a confluence of long-term population and environmental trends is also undermining world food availability. These trends include increased diversion of grains for biofuels, and for livestock and poultry feed, continuing poverty, climate change leading to increasingly unstable weather, shrinking availability of water, the declining productive capacity of croplands and fisheries, and rapid population growth particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Latin America and Asia have made substantial progress in reaching MDG 1.C, whereas progress has been slow in the Near East and Africa. Both rapid population growth and environmental degredation threaten future progress toward elimination of hunger. Major investment in strengthening both agriculture and family planning is needed.