New stats on global hunger

A pair of new studies give us new statistics on the number of people hungry in the world and how much it costs. One study shows that there has been a decline in the amount of hungry people compared to 2009, but the number is still greater than before the global recession. Meanwhile, Action Aid has a new report that gives a dollar figure to how much hunger hurts the global economy.

From the BBC, we learn more about the two studies.

The FAO estimates there are 925 million undernourished people in 2010, compared with 1.02 billion in 2009.

But it warned that the fight to reduce hunger would face additional obstacles if food prices continue to rise.

A separate report from Action Aid estimates that hunger costs developing countries $450bn (£292m) a year.

The report says that 90% of these costs stem from lost productivity as a result of malnutrition, while the other 10% is due to higher health system costs.

Action Aid says this is more than 10 times the amount of funding needed to halve hunger by 2015. This is one of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs represent a global commitment by members of the UN to reduce poverty and improve lives by 2015.
Targets under threat

Food prices have risen sharply recently, with the price of wheat hitting a two-year high last month after a severe drought and fires in Russia devastated crops there.