Objective 2: To know the magnitude of hunger in the world today

Picture: Map of World Hunger

The world population continues to grow at a rapid pace. In 1999, the official United Nations estimate for the number of people in the world exceeded 6 billion. We will see an additional 2 billion in the next 25 years, mostly from the countries that currently have the most difficulty feeding their populations.
Although the world's population increased dramatically (by more than 70 percent) over the last 30 years, great progress has been made in increasing the quantity and quality of the global food supply and in improving the nutritional status of populations.
In the developing world, where the population has nearly doubled during this time, the proportion living in a chronic state of undernourishment has been reduced by half (from 36 to 18 percent in 1995-97).
Nevertheless, 790 million people - one out of five in the developing countries - do not have enough food to meet their basic daily nutritional needs. Development has not benefited all people; while some countries have made great progress, hunger has increased in others, especially in those that already have the most difficulty feeding their people.
Access to sufficient supplies of a variety of safe, good-quality foods is a serious problem in many countries, even where food supplies are adequate at the national level.

Hold up the picture Map of World Hunger, which indicates areas with serious hunger and malnutrition problems. Explain how the map shows the areas where many people do not get all of the foods that they need to eat. Point out the areas with the largest number of hungry people. Explain that all countries have some hungry people.
Identify your area/region of the world, and discuss the degree of your own area's problem with hunger compared with surrounding areas and the world as a whole.