Global Hunger: UN Food Agency Warns One in Nine Worldwide Severely Underfed

The number of starving people in the world is as high as 805 million, or one in nine, despite the overall figure falling by more than 100 million in the past decade, three global food agencies have warned in a report.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme have said a goal set in 2000 of reducing the proportion of undernourished people globally by half in 2015 is still "within reach".

Overall, there has been improvements from last year, when the report showed about 842 million people went hungry. Since 1990, the number of underfed people in the world has decreased by over 200 million.

Access to food in Latin America and the Caribbean has improved and strong economic growth in Asia and Africa has raised living conditions. Around seven of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world are in Africa, the report stated.

"Access to food has improved fast and significantly in countries that have experienced rapid overall economic progress, notably in eastern and south-eastern Asia," the FAO said in the document, The State Of Food Insecurity In The World.

"Access is still a challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, where income growth has been sluggish, poverty rates have remained high and rural infrastructure remains limited."

Government drives to reduce worldwide hunger have helped the situation, although the figure is still high. The report highlighted a stocktake of the progress in reducing hunger and malnutrition shows food insecurity is still a major challenge.

Progress recorded in countries such as Brazil masks the struggles of states such as Haiti, where the number of starving people has increased from 4.4 million between 1990 and 1992 to 5.3 million 2012 to 2014, according to Reuters.

According to the World Food Programme, three-quarters of Haitians live on less than £1.20 per day and half the population earns less than 60p per day. In rural areas, around 90% live below the poverty level.

The report called for more efforts to be made in southern and western Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to reduce the hunger in developing countries from the current 13.5% to 11.7% by the end of 2015.