About World Hunger and Poverty

Around the world …

860 million people around the world suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition.
2 billion people suffer from a lack of nutrients (1 out of every 3 people on earth).
A lack of nutrients can lead to eye damage, blindness, slowed growth, and a reduce in energy and mental, speech, and hearing capabilities.
Every day, 27,000 children die, mostly of hunger and preventable diseases.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 173 children in every 1,000 will die before age five.
There are 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS around the world, 3.2 million are children.
Approximately 250,000 people die from AIDS-related causes each month.
AIDS has killed 22 million people, more than 6 million of those were children.
In the countries most affected by AIDS, 1 of 3 children will die of the disease before they turn fifteen.
Currently there is approximately 14 million AIDS orphans - by 2010 it is expected to increase to 25 million.
The United Nations says between $7 and $10 billion US per year is needed to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic, only $800 million US has been raised globally.
Approximately 3 billion people (equal to about half the world’s population) live on less than $3 CDN per day.
Canada is the 17th highest ranked aid-giving country in the world, spending only one cent out of every tax dollar on foreign aid.

Source: World Vision

One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 millions children under the age of five. In developing countries, 91 out of 1,000 children die before their fifth birthday.

Malnutrition can severely affect a child’s intellectual development.
Of the over 6 billion people in the world, 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day.
The wealthiest fifth of the world’s people consume 86 percent of all goods and services while the poorest fifth consume only 1 percent.

Poverty is the main cause of hunger.
Conflict is another cause of hunger. Worldwide, there were about 21.5 million refugees and displaced people in 1999 – largely as a result of wars, political problems, civil conflicts and social unrest. (e.g., Afghanistan, Korea, Somalia and Sudan). During these emergencies, malnutrition runs rampant.

In the U.S. alone …

One out of every six children under the age of 12 in the United States lives in poverty.

But there is hope …

The world produces enough food to feed everyone. The main problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow or income to purchase enough food.

Since beginning the 30 Hour Famine in 1994, the number of children who die each day from hunger and related diseases has fallen from 35,000 to 29,000.
Last year over 155,000 Canadian teens raised nearly $4,000,000 to help children world wide.
This year, Canada is expected to attract more than 175,000 teen participants across the country, their goal is to raise $4.2 million.

Source: World Vision