Income Growth and Affordable Food Decreasing Global Hunger

WASHINGTON, DC – Could global food insecurity improve dramatically in the next ten years? According to the Economic Research Service (ERS) at USDA, the answer is yes. ERS researchers survey caloric intake per capita for 3.8 billion people in 76 countries and suggest that currently, 19 percent of the world’s inhabitants do not have enough food to eat (base upon 2,100 daily calories per person). That means 728 million people are hungry. However, that number is expected to drop to 399 million hungry people per day – or 9 percent of the global population – by 2029 based upon projected income growth and sustained low food prices. Asia is expected to improve most, particularly in India and Southeast Asia.