Hunger is one of the biggest global problems. The number of undernourished people has been increasing for the last 6 years, so the hunger mortality rate is definitely high and terrifying.
How many people die of hunger? How many kids?
We covered all the shocking data and statistics related to this problem.
3 Key Hunger Death Rate Statistics
- 9 million people die of hunger every year.
- The death rate is the highest in developing countries.
- 3.2 million children die every year of starvation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
10 Hunger Death Rate Statistics
1. Around 822 million people suffer from undernourishment.
Since 1990, the number of people who are affected by hunger and starvation has decreased by 189 million. However, since 2015, we have seen an increase again caused by many conflicts, political situations, the economy, and the pandemic. With every increase, more deaths occur.
Source: The World Counts
2. Around 9 million people die of hunger and hunger-related diseases every year.
There are 811 million people in the world. World hunger is increasing and it affects 9.9% of people globally. Up to 9 million people die every year of hunger, starvation, or hunger-related diseases. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is having a big impact on the total number of hungry people too, so the number of hunger-related deaths will definitely increase even more in the upcoming months.
Source: The World Counts
3. Hunger takes more people than other diseases.
The mentioned number of 9 million dead people is higher than the total amount of deaths caused by AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. This is a quite shocking fact while the hunger death rate is slowly increasing by every minute.
Source: The World Counts
4. Every day 25,000 people die of hunger.
According to the data provided by the United Nations, the world is losing 25,000 people daily due to hunger and starvation. The death rate is the highest in underdeveloped and developing countries.
Source: United Nations
5. Every minute, 11 people die of hunger.
OXFAM provided a media briefing with data on the hunger and death rate caused by it. 11 people die every minute due to food shortages and starvation. People simply don’t have access to food or nutrition which are essentials on a daily basis.
Source: OXFAM
6. Up to 10,000 children die every day.
Children are the most vulnerable group when it comes to the food-insecurities and starvation. A high number of them are losing lives every single day. The contributing factor to such a high death rate is the fact that a minimum percentage of those kids have access to lifesaving treatment. Some statistics show that a child dies from hunger every 10 seconds.
Source: United Nations, Action Against Hunger, The World Counts
7. About 3.1 million children die every year due to poor nutrition and hunger.
Food shortage, poor nutrition, and hunger are some of the main factors that lead to the death of children. The number of 3.1 million deaths is nearly half of all deaths of children under the age of 5. And that is terrifying.
Source: The World Counts
8. Malnutrition is the cause or a contributing factor to 45% of children’s deaths.
Speaking of children under the age of 5, malnutrition or a lack of proper nutrition is caused by not having enough to eat or not eating enough of the right things. Malnutrition is one of the factors that are responsible for 3.1 million children deaths younger than the age of 5.
Source: World Health Organization
9. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 3.2 million children under the age of 5 die each year.
Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest undernourished prevalence – 24.1% of the population is fighting hunger and starvation. 40% of children are affected by hunger and 3.2 million of them die every year due to starvation.
Source: SOS Children’s Villages
10. In 2021, at least 400,000 Yemeni children under 5 died of starvation.
According to Reuters, Yemen has a high children death rate too. At least 400,000 children under the age of 5 died of starvation this year. And that is not even the total number of children deaths this year. And that is shocking! No doubt the number will be even higher by the end of 2021.
Source: Reuters
To Wrap It Up
The hunger death rate has been increasing and despite the optimistic plans of the world to reach Zero Hunger by 2030, such a realization of the positive scenario will have to wait. Low-income countries fight daily with the death of their loved ones, while the pandemic certainly doesn’t ease up everyday hunger battle. We can only hope that Zero Hunger predictions will come rather sooner than later.
