View source for Hunger

{{Short description|Sustained inability to eat sufficient food}}
{{About|the social and political aspects of hunger|the physical sensation|Hunger (physiology)|the physical extremes|Starvation|and|Famine|other uses|Hunger (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|appetite}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
[[File:Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mathew Ahmann in a crowd.) - NARA - 542015 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Martin Luther King Jr.]] (center), one of many 20th century political figures who considered it important to fight hunger: "When I die, don't build a [[List of memorials to Martin Luther King Jr.|monument to me]]. Don't bestow me degrees from great universities. Just clothe the naked. Say that I tried to house the homeless. Let people say that I tried to feed the hungry."<ref name = "foodAndFamine"/>]]

In [[politics]], [[humanitarian aid]], and the [[social science]]s, '''hunger''' is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic [[Human nutrition|nutritional]] needs for a sustained period. In the field of hunger relief, the term '''''hunger''''' is used in a sense that goes beyond the common desire for food that all humans experience, also known as an '''''[[appetite]]'''''. The most extreme form of hunger, when [[malnutrition]] is widespread, and when people have started dying of starvation through lack of access to sufficient, nutritious food, leads to a declaration of [[famine]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Famine Prevention |url=https://www.wfp.org/fight-famine |website=wfp.org |publisher=World Food Programme |access-date=6 May 2021 |archive-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221064143/https://www.wfp.org/fight-famine |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:The Hunger March in Copenhagen (dk).JPG|thumb|''[[The Hunger March]]'' sculptures in Copenhagen]]
Throughout history, portions of the world's population have often suffered sustained periods of hunger. In many cases, hunger resulted from food supply disruptions caused by [[war]], [[Pandemic|plagues]], or [[adverse weather]]. In the decades following [[World War II]], technological progress and enhanced political cooperation suggested it might be possible to substantially reduce the number of people suffering from hunger. While progress was uneven, by 2015, the threat of extreme hunger had receded for a large portion of the world's population. According to the FAO's 2023 The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, this positive trend had reversed from about 2017, when a gradual rise in number of people suffering from chronic hunger became discernible. In 2020 and 2021, due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], there was an increase in the number of people suffering from undernourishment. A recovery occurred in 2022 along with the economic rebound, though the impact on global food markets caused by the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|invasion of Ukraine]] meant the reduction in world hunger was limited.<ref name="FAO2023"/>

While most of the world's people continue to live in [[Asia]], much of the increase in hunger since 2017 occurred in [[Africa]] and [[South America]]. The FAO's 2017 report discussed three principal reasons for the recent increase in hunger: [[climate]], [[Group conflict|conflict]], and [[Recession|economic slowdowns]]. The 2018 edition focused on [[extreme weather]] as a primary driver of the increase in hunger, finding rising rates to be especially severe in countries where agricultural systems were most sensitive to extreme weather variations. The 2019 SOFI report found a strong correlation between increases in hunger and countries that had suffered an [[economic slowdown]]. The 2020 edition instead looked at the prospects of achieving the hunger related [[Sustainable Development Goals|Sustainable Development Goal]] (SDG). It warned that if nothing was done to counter the adverse trends of the past six years, the number of people suffering from chronic hunger could rise by over 150 million by 2030. The 2023 report reported a sharp jump in hunger caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which leveled off in 2022. According to the report of United Nations from 2025, hunger increases globally for 6 years in a row.<ref name=UN2025/>

Many thousands of organizations are engaged in the field of hunger relief, operating at local, national, regional, or international levels. Some of these organizations are dedicated to hunger relief, while others may work in several different fields. The organizations range from multilateral institutions to national governments, to small local initiatives such as independent [[soup kitchen]]s. Many participate in umbrella networks that connect thousands of different hunger relief organizations. At the global level, much of the world's hunger relief efforts are coordinated by the [[United Nations|UN]] and geared towards achieving [[Sustainable Development Goal 2|SDG 2 of ''Zero Hunger'']] by 2030.

==Definition and related terms==
There is one globally recognized approach for defining and measuring hunger generally used by those studying or working to relieve hunger as a social problem. This is the United Nation's [[FAO]] measurement, which is typically referred to as ''chronic undernourishment'' (or in older publications, as 'food deprivation,' 'chronic hunger,' or just plain 'hunger.') For the FAO:
* ''Hunger'' or ''chronic [[undernourishment]]'' exists when "caloric intake is below the minimum dietary energy requirement (MDER). The MDER is the amount of energy needed to perform light activity and to maintain a minimum acceptable weight for attained height."<ref>{{Cite web
|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2490e/i2490e02a.pdf
|title=FAO Statistical Yearbook 2012: Part 2 Hunger dimensions
|publisher=[[FAO]]
|date=2012
|access-date=27 December 2018
|archive-date=9 February 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209084518/http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/i2490e/i2490e02a.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] use different MDER thresholds for different countries, due to variations in climate and cultural factors. Typically a yearly "balance sheet" approach is used, with the minimum dietary energy requirement tallied against the estimated total calories consumed over the year. The FAO definitions differentiate hunger from [[malnutrition]] and food insecurity:<ref name = "BMJ2018">{{cite journal
| author = Patrick Webb, Gunhild Anker Stordalen, Sudhvir Singh, Ramani Wijesinha-Bettoni, Prakash Shetty, Anna Lartey
| title = Hunger and malnutrition in the 21st century
| journal = [[The BMJ]]
| volume = 350
| pages = k2238| year = 2018| doi = 10.1136/bmj.k2238 | pmid = 29898884
| pmc = 5996965
}}</ref><ref name="FAO2018">{{Cite web
|url=http://www.fao.org/3/I9553EN/i9553en.pdf
|title=The state of food security and nutrition in the world (2018)
|publisher=[[FAO]]
|date=11 September 2018
|access-date=27 December 2018
|archive-date=28 December 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228073337/http://www.fao.org/3/I9553EN/i9553en.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name = "FAOintro">{{Cite web
|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/al936e/al936e00.pdf
|title=An Introduction to the Basic Concepts of Food Security
|publisher=[[FAO]]
|date=2008
|access-date=27 December 2018
|archive-date=8 August 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808204526/http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/al936e/al936e00.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
* [[Malnutrition]] results from "[[Deficiency (medicine)|deficiencies]], excesses or imbalances in the consumption of macro- and/or micro-nutrients." In the [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] definition, all hungry people suffer from malnutrition, but people who are malnourished may not be hungry. They may get sufficient raw [[calorie]]s to avoid hunger but lack essential micronutrients, or they may even consume an excess of raw [[calorie]]s and hence suffer from [[obesity]].<ref name = "FAOintro"/><ref name="FAO2018"/><ref name = "BMJ2018"/>
* [[Food insecurity]] occurs when people are at risk, or worried about, not being able to meet their preferences for food, including in terms of raw [[calorie]]s and nutritional value. In the [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] definition, all hungry people are food insecure, but not all food-insecure people are hungry (though there is a very strong overlap between hunger and ''severe food insecurity''.). The [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] have reported that food insecurity quite often results in simultaneous [[stunted growth]] for children, and [[obesity]] for adults. For hunger relief actors operating at the global or regional level, an increasingly commonly used metric for food insecurity is the [[Integrated Food Security Phase Classification|IPC scale]].<ref name = "FAOintro"/><ref name="FAO2018"/><ref name = "BMJ2018"/>
* ''Acute hunger'' is typically used to denote famine like hunger, though the phrase lacks a widely accepted formal definition. In the context of hunger relief, people experiencing 'acute hunger' may also suffer from 'chronic hunger'. The word is used mainly to denote severity, not long-term duration.<ref name = "FAOintro"/><ref name = "FSIN2020April"/><ref name = "BMJ2018"/>
Not all of the organizations in the hunger relief field use the [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] definition of hunger. Some use a broader definition that overlaps more fully with malnutrition. The alternative definitions do however tend to go beyond the commonly understood meaning of hunger as a painful or uncomfortable motivational condition; the desire for food is something that all humans frequently experience, even the most affluent, and is not in itself a [[social problem]].<ref>{{Citation
 | last1 = Holben | first1 = David, H.
 | title = The Concept and Definition of Hunger and Its Relationship to Food Insecurity
 | work = [[National Academies of Science]]
 | date = 2005
  }}</ref><ref name = "FAOintro"/><ref name="FAO2018"/><ref name = "BMJ2018"/>

Very low food supply can be described as "food insecure with hunger." A change in description was made in 2006 at the recommendation of the Committee on National Statistics ([[National Research Council (United States)|National Research Council]], 2006) in order to distinguish the physiological state of hunger from indicators of food availability.<ref name="Coleman-Jensen">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/94849/err-270.pdf?v=963.1|title=Household Food Security in the United States in 2018|last=Coleman-Jensen|access-date=6 December 2019|archive-date=6 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206110348/http://ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/94849/err-270.pdf?v=963.1|url-status=live}}</ref> Food insecure is when food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food.<ref name="Coleman-Jensen"/> [[Food security]] statistics is measured by using survey data, based on household responses to items about whether the household was able to obtain enough food to meet their needs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/94849/err-270.pdf?v=963.1|title=Household Food Security in the United states in 2018|last=Coleman-Jensen|access-date=6 December 2019|archive-date=6 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206110348/http://ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/94849/err-270.pdf?v=963.1|url-status=live}}</ref>

==World statistics==
{{See also|Food security#Malnutrition}}
[[File:In 2022, Asia was home to 55 percent (402 million) of the people in the world affected by hunger, while more than 38 percent (282 million) lived in Africa.svg|thumb|In 2022, Asia was home to 55% (402 million) of the people in the world affected by hunger, while more than 38% (282 million) lived in Africa.]]
[[File:Global hunger remained virtually unchanged from 2021 to 2022 but is still far above pre-Covid-19-pandemic levels.svg|thumb|Global hunger remained virtually unchanged from 2021 to 2022 but is still far above pre-COVID-19-pandemic.]]
The [[United Nations]] publishes an annual report on the state of food security and nutrition across the world. Led by the [[FAO]], the report was joint authored by four other UN agencies: the [[WFP]], [[IFAD]], [[WHO]] and [[UNICEF]]. The theme of the 2024 report is on how efforts to meet [[Sustainable Development Goal 2|SDG 2.1 & 2.2]] can be financed.  The FAO's yearly report provides a statistical overview on the prevalence of hunger around the world, and is widely considered the main global reference for tracking hunger.  No simple set of statistics can ever fully capture the multi dimensional nature of hunger however. Reasons include that the FAO's key metric for hunger, "undernourishment", is defined solely in terms of dietary energy availability – disregarding micro-nutrients such as vitamins or minerals. Second, the FAO uses the energy requirements for minimum activity levels as a benchmark; many people would not count as hungry by the FAO's measure yet still be eating too little to undertake hard manual labour, which might be the only sort of work available to them. Thirdly, the FAO statistics do not always reflect short-term undernourishment.<ref name="FAO2018" /><ref name="FAO2019">{{Cite web
|url=http://www.fao.org/3/ca5162en/ca5162en.pdf
|title=The state of food security and nutrition in the world (2019)
|publisher=[[FAO]]
|date=15 July 2019
|access-date=15 July 2019
|archive-date=2 September 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200902213652/http://www.fao.org/3/ca5162en/ca5162en.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name="FAO2020">{{Cite book
|url=http://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/2020/en/
|title=The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020
|publisher=[[FAO]]
|date=7 July 2020
|doi=10.4060/CA9692EN
|isbn=978-92-5-132901-6
|s2cid=239729231
|access-date=27 January 2021
|archive-date=10 October 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010205743/http://www.fao.org/publications/sofi/2020/en/
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name="FAO2021">{{Cite web
|url=http://www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/cb4474en.pdf
|title=The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021
|publisher=[[FAO]]
|date=2021
|access-date=10 September 2021
|archive-date=4 September 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904033340/http://www.fao.org/3/cb4474en/cb4474en.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name="FAO2023">{{Cite web
|url=https://www.fao.org/3/cc3017en/cc3017en.pdf
|title=The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023
|publisher=[[FAO]]
|date=2023
|access-date=2 November 2023
}}</ref><ref name="FAO2024">{{Cite web
|url=https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/the-state-of-food-security-and-nutrition-in-the-world-2024
|title=The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023
|publisher=[[FAO]]
|date=2024
|access-date=25 August 2024
}}</ref>

According to the report of United Nations from 2025, acute food insecurity increases globally for 6 years in a row. As funding become scarce, a possible solution is "investment in [[sustainable agriculture]], which is four times more cost-effective than direct food assistance but only accounts for three percent of  humanitarian funds."<ref name=UN2025>{{cite web |title=Another year, another rise in food insecurity – including famine |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/05/1163321 |website=United Nations |access-date=20 May 2025}}</ref>


{| class="wikitable"
!Year!!2005!!2010!!2015!!2017!!2018!!2019!!2020!!2021!!2022!!2023
|-

!Number (million) of undernourished people (global)<ref name="FAO2024"/>
|798.3 ||604.8||570.2||541.3||557.0||581.3||669.3||708.7||723.8||733.4
|-

!Percentage of undernourished people (global)<ref name="FAO2024"/>
|12.2%||8.7%||7.7%||7.1%||7.2%||7.5%||8.5%||9.0%||9.1%||9.1%
|}
An alternative measure of hunger across the world is the [[Global Hunger Index]] (GHI). Unlike the FAO's measure, the GHI defines hunger in a way that goes beyond raw calorie intake, to include for example ingestion of micronutrients. GDI is a multidimensional statistical tool used to describe the state of countries' hunger situation. The GHI measures progress and failures in the global fight against hunger.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8306556.stm |title= Global hunger worsening, warns UN |publisher= BBC (Europe) |date= 14 October 2009 |access-date= 22 August 2010 |archive-date= 23 October 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181023054023/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8306556.stm |url-status= live }}</ref> The GHI is updated once a year. The data from the 2015 report showed that Hunger levels have dropped 27% since 2000. Fifty two countries remained at serious or alarming levels.<ref>K. von Grebmer, J. Bernstein, A. de Waal, N. Prasai, S. Yin, Y. Yohannes: [http://www.ifpri.org/cdmref/p15738coll2/id/129681/filename/129892.pdf 2015 Global Hunger Index - Armed Conflict and the Challenge of Hunger]. Bonn, Washington D. C., Dublin: Welthungerhilfe, IFPRI, and Concern Worldwide. October 2015.</ref> The 2019 GHI report expresses concern about the increase in hunger since 2015. In addition to the latest statistics on Hunger and Food Security, the GHI also features different special topics each year. The 2019 report includes an essay on hunger and climate change, with evidence suggesting that areas most [[Climate change vulnerability|vulnerable to climate change]] have suffered much of the recent increases in hunger.<ref>{{cite news
 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/oct/15/higher-temperatures-driving-alarming-levels-hunger-report-climate-crisis
 |title= Higher temperatures driving 'alarming' levels of hunger – report
 |work= [[The Guardian]]
 |author= Lucy Lamble
 |date= 15 October 2019
|access-date= 16 October 2019
|archive-date= 21 December 2022
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221221064110/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/oct/15/higher-temperatures-driving-alarming-levels-hunger-report-climate-crisis
 |url-status= live
 }}</ref><ref>K. von Grebmer, J. Bernstein, R. Mukerji, F. Patterson, M. Wiemers, R. Ní Chéilleachair, C. Foley, S. Gitter, K. Ekstrom, and H. Fritschel. 2019. [https://admin.concern.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2019-10/2019%20Global%20Hunger%20Index.pdf 2019 Global Hunger Index: The Challenge of Hunger and Climate Change.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223044650/https://admin.concern.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2019-10/2019%20Global%20Hunger%20Index.pdf |date=23 February 2022 }} Bonn: Welthungerhilfe; and Dublin: Concern Worldwide.</ref>

== The fight against hunger ==

===Pre World War II===
[[File:Unemployed men queued outside a depression soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone, 02-1931 - NARA - 541927.jpg|thumb|210px|Unemployed men outside a soup kitchen in Chicago, 1931|upright=1.15]]
Throughout history, the need to aid those suffering from hunger has been commonly, though not universally,<ref>As an example of historical opposition to food aid, during the [[Hungry Forties]], English [[Laissez-faire]] advocates were largely successful in preventing it being deployed by Great Britain to relief the Irish famine; see for example the section on "Ideology and relief"' in Chpt. 2 of ''The Great Irish Famine'' by [[Cormac Ó Gráda]].

For a detailed description of how [[Hunger in the United Kingdom#Attitudes towards hunger relief|views opposed to hunger relief]] became dominant within Great Britain's policy making circles during the 19th century, and also their subsequent displacement, see ''Hunger: A Modern History'' (2007) by James Vernon, esp. Chpts. 1–3. In 2012, advocates of small government spoke out against the US food stamp programme, saying it discourages people from fending for themselves, in the same way as it is not always a good idea to feed hungry wild animals. ( See [http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/07/14/4099922/food-stamp-debate-brings-out-the.html Food stamp debate brings out the haters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123061653/http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/07/14/4099922/food-stamp-debate-brings-out-the.html |date=23 January 2013 }} published by the ''Star Telegram''. )</ref> recognized. The philosopher [[Simone Weil]] wrote that feeding the hungry when you have resources to do so is the most obvious of all human [[Moral obligation|obligations]]. She says that as far back as [[Ancient Egypt]], many believed that people had to show they had helped the hungry in order to justify themselves in the afterlife. Weil writes that [[Social progress]] is commonly held to be first of all, "...a transition to a state of human society in which people will not suffer from hunger."<ref>{{cite book
|author=Simone Weil
|title=The Need for Roots
|page = 6
|year=2002
|orig-date= 1942
|isbn=0-415-27102-9
|publisher = [[Routledge]]|author-link=Simone Weil
|title-link=The Need for Roots
}}</ref>
Social historian [[Karl Polanyi]] wrote that before markets became the world's dominant form of economic organization in the 19th century, most human societies would either starve all together or not at all, because communities would invariably share their food.<ref>{{Cite book
 | author = Karl Polanyi
 | title = The Great Transformation
 | year = 2002 |orig-date=1942
 | chapter = chpt. 4
 | isbn = 978-0-8070-5643-1
 | publisher=Beacon Press | author-link = Karl Polanyi
 | title-link = The Great Transformation (book)
 }}</ref>

While some of the principles for avoiding famines had been laid out in the first book of the [[Bible]],<ref>See the story of [[Joseph (son of Jacob)|Jacob]] and the seven years of plenty, seven years of famine:
[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2041&version=NIV Genesis 41] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120012324/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2041&version=NIV |date=20 November 2022 }}</ref> they were not always understood. Historical hunger relief efforts were often largely left to religious organizations and individual kindness. Even up to early modern times, political leaders often reacted to famine with bewilderment and confusion. From the first age of globalization, which began in the 19th century, it became more common for the elite to consider problems like hunger in global terms. However, as early globalization largely coincided with the high peak of influence for [[classical liberalism]], there was relatively little call for politicians to address world hunger.<ref>For further info see [[Hunger in the United Kingdom#Attitudes towards hunger relief]].</ref><ref>
There were many exceptions. For example, in ''Hunger: A Modern History'' (2007), James Vernon describes dozens of 18th and 19th century campaigners who spoke in favor of hunger relief.</ref>
[[File:Hunger - For three years America has fought starvation in Belgium - Will you eat less wheat, meat, fats and sugar that we may still send food in ship loads? - DPLA - 99ce44df6c024ced4d69ce75d6ebe7d1.jpg|alt=A pencil sketch image depicts a mother with her head downcast, holding an infant in her arms. Near her are two other children, looking thin and sickly. There is no father depicted. Everyone is drawn slumped over and appears melancholy.|thumb|A poster made by the United States Food Administration around the years 1914-1917 urging Americans to ration]]
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the view that politicians ought not to intervene against hunger was increasingly challenged by campaigning journalists. There were also more frequent calls for large scale intervention against world hunger from academics and politicians, such as U.S. President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. Funded both by the government and private donations, the U.S. was able to dispatch millions of tons of food aid to European countries during and in the years immediately after WWI, organized by agencies such as the [[American Relief Administration]]. Hunger as an academic and social topic came to further prominence in the U.S. thanks to mass media coverage of the issue as a domestic problem during the [[Great Depression]].<ref>As many individuals struggled for food, the same agricultural industries were suddenly producing large surpluses as means of increased production to counter the drop in demand from the European markets. This increased output was meant to ease the growing debt levels, however domestic demand could not keep up with prices. Instead, what is often called "the paradox of want amid plenty," agricultural surpluses and large demand simply did not fit together, causing the Hoover administration to buy large amounts of product, such as grain, to stabilize prices. Initially refusing to further compromise the distressed price levels, political pressure from starving families across the country forced Congress to reconsider. With large deposits of grain already wasting away in government possession, the only political move left was to begin a process of donations to the hungry from the Farm Board, a federal oversight created in 1929 to promote the sale and stabilization of agricultural products. Instead of hunger being a reason for the allocation of large grain surpluses, waste became the eventual driving force.</ref><ref name = "HungerModHist">
{{cite book
|author = James Vernon
|title = Hunger: A Modern History
|chapter = Chpts. 1-3
|year = 2007
|isbn = 978-0-674-02678-0
|publisher = [[Harvard University Press]]
|chapter-url-access = registration
|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/hungermodernhist00vern_0
|url-access = registration
|url = https://archive.org/details/hungermodernhist00vern_0
}}</ref><ref name="Grigg">
{{cite journal
|author = David Grigg
|title=The historiography of hunger: changing views on the world food problem 1945–1980
|journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
|year= 1981
|volume= 6| issue = 3
|series= NS
|pages=279–292
|quote= Before 1945 very little academic or political notice was taken of the problem of world hunger, since 1945 there has been a vast literature on the subject.
|doi=10.2307/622288
|jstor=622288
|pmid=12265450
|bibcode=1981TrIBG...6..279G
}}</ref><ref name = "HistoryEpidemics">
{{cite book
|author = Charles Creighton
|title=History of Epidemics in Britain
|chapter = Chapt. 1
|orig-date= 1891
|year= 2010
|isbn=978-1-144-94760-4
|publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]
|author-link=Charles Creighton (physician)
}}</ref><ref name = "foodAndFamine">{{cite book
|editor= William A Dando
|title=Food and Famine in the 21st Century: Vol 1, Topics and Issues
|chapter = ''passim'', see esp Introduction; Historiography of Food, Hunger and famine; Hunger and Starvation
|year=2012
|isbn=978-1-59884-730-7
|publisher = [[ABC-CLIO]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
 | author = Janet Poppendieck
 | title = Eating Agendas
 | year = 1995
 | isbn = 978-0-202-30508-0
 | publisher = Aldine Transaction
 | url-access = registration
 | url = https://archive.org/details/eatingagendasfoo0000unse
 }}</ref>

===Efforts after World War II===
While there had been increasing attention to hunger relief from the late 19th century, Dr David Grigg has summarised that prior to the end of [[World War II]], world hunger still received relatively little academic or political attention; whereas after 1945 there was an explosion of interest in the topic.<ref name="Grigg"/>

After [[World War II]], a new international politico-economic order came into being, which was later described as [[Embedded liberalism]]. For at least the first decade after the war, the United States, then by far the period's most dominant national actor, was strongly supportive of efforts to tackle world hunger and to promote international development. It heavily funded the United Nation's development programmes, and later the efforts of other multilateral organizations like the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) and the [[World Bank]] (WB).<ref name="Grigg"/><ref name = "foodAndFamine"/><ref name = "Politics of hunger">
{{cite book
|author = John R. Butterly and Jack Shepherd
|title=Hunger: The Biology and Politics of Starvation
|year= 2006
|isbn=978-1-58465-926-6
|publisher= Dartmouth College
}}</ref>

The newly established United Nations became a leading player in co-ordinating the global fight against hunger. The [[United Nations|UN]] has three agencies that work to promote food security and agricultural development: the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] (FAO), the [[World Food Programme]] (WFP) and the [[International Fund for Agricultural Development]] (IFAD). FAO is the world's agricultural knowledge agency, providing policy and technical assistance to developing countries to promote food security, [[nutrition]] and sustainable agricultural production, particularly in rural areas. [[World Food Programme|WFP]]'s key mission is to deliver food into the hands of the hungry poor. The agency steps in during [[emergencies]] and uses food to aid recovery after emergencies. Its longer term approaches to hunger helps the transition from recovery to development. [[International Fund for Agricultural Development|IFAD]], with its knowledge of rural poverty and exclusive focus on poor rural people, designs and implements programmes to help those people access the assets, services and opportunities they need to overcome poverty.<ref name="Grigg"/><ref name = "foodAndFamine"/><ref name = "Politics of hunger"/>

Following successful post [[World War II|WWII]] reconstruction of Germany and Japan, the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] and [[World Bank|WB]] began to turn their attention to the developing world. A great many [[NGO|civil society actors]] were also active in trying to combat hunger, especially after the late 1970s when global media began to bring the plight of starving people in places like [[Ethiopia]] to wider attention. Most significant of all, especially in the late 1960s and 70s, the [[Green revolution]] helped improved agricultural technology propagate throughout the world.<ref name="Grigg"/><ref name = "foodAndFamine"/><ref name = "Politics of hunger"/>

The United States began to change its approach to the problem of world hunger from about the mid 1950s. Influential members of the administration became less enthusiastic about methods they saw as promoting an over reliance on the state, as they feared that might assist the spread of [[communism]]. By the 1980s, the previous consensus in favour of moderate government intervention had been [[Post-war displacement of Keynesianism|displaced across the western world.]] The IMF and World Bank in particular began to promote market-based solutions. In cases where countries became dependent on the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]], they sometimes forced national governments to prioritize debt repayments and sharply cut public services. This sometimes had a negative effect on efforts to combat hunger.<ref name="Ecologist-2014-04-03"/><ref name="MR-2013-11-Magdoff"/><ref name="MRzine-2012-12-Goswami"/>
[[File:Irrigation1.jpg|thumb|left|Increased use of irrigation played a major role in the [[Green Revolution]].]]
Organizations such as [[Food First]] raised the issue of [[food sovereignty]] and claimed that every country on earth (with the possible minor exceptions of some city-states) has sufficient agricultural capacity to feed its own people, but that the "[[free trade]]" economic order, which from the late 1970s to about 2008 had been associated with such institutions as the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] and [[World Bank]], had prevented this from happening. The World Bank itself claimed it was part of the solution to hunger, asserting that the best way for countries to break the cycle of poverty and hunger was to build export-led economies that provide the financial means to buy foodstuffs on the world market. However, in the early 21st century the World Bank and IMF became less dogmatic about promoting [[free market]] reforms. They increasingly returned to the view that government intervention does have a role to play, and that it can be advisable for governments to support food security with policies favourable to domestic agriculture, even for countries that do not have a [[comparative advantage]] in that area. As of 2012, the World Bank remains active in helping governments to intervene against hunger.<ref name="WB30Jul12">{{Cite web
|url=http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2012/07/30/food-price-volatility-growing-concern-world-bank-stands-ready-respond
|title=Food Price Volatility a Growing Concern, World Bank Stands Ready to Respond
|publisher=[[World Bank]]
|date=30 March 2012
|access-date=31 July 2012
|archive-date=1 August 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801172733/http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2012/07/30/food-price-volatility-growing-concern-world-bank-stands-ready-respond
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name="Grigg"/><ref name = "foodAndFamine"/><ref name = "Politics of hunger"/><ref>{{cite web
|url= http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/05/20115712428956842.html
|title= The IMF's change of heart
|publisher= [[Al Jazeera English|Aljazeera]]
|author= Joseph Stiglitz
|date= 7 May 2011
|access-date= 16 May 2011
|author-link= Joseph Stiglitz
|archive-date= 16 May 2011
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110516104538/http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/05/20115712428956842.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref>

Until at least the 1980s—and, to an extent, the 1990s—the dominant academic view concerning world hunger was that it was a problem of demand exceeding supply. Proposed solutions often focused on boosting food production, and sometimes on birth control. There were exceptions to this, even as early as the 1940s, [[John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr|Lord Boyd-Orr]], the first head of the [[United Nations|UN]]'s [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]], had perceived hunger as largely a problem of distribution, and drew up comprehensive plans to correct this. Few agreed with him at the time, however, and he resigned after failing to secure support for his plans from the [[United States|US]] and [[Great Britain]]. In 1998, [[Amartya Sen]] won a [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences|Nobel Prize]] in part for demonstrating that hunger in modern times is not typically the product of a lack of food. Rather, hunger usually arises from food distribution problems, or from governmental policies in the developed and developing world. It has since been broadly accepted that world hunger results from issues with the distribution as well as the production of food.<ref name="Ecologist-2014-04-03"/><ref name="MR-2013-11-Magdoff">[[Harry Magdoff#Death|Fred Magdoff]], [https://monthlyreview.org/2013/11/01/twenty-first-century-land-grabs Twenty-First-Century Land Grabs - Accumulation by Agricultural Dispossession] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911173657/https://monthlyreview.org/2013/11/01/twenty-first-century-land-grabs/ |date=11 September 2022 }}, ''[[Monthly Review]]'', 2013, Volume 65, Issue 06 (November)</ref><ref name="MRzine-2012-12-Goswami">Rahul Goswami, [http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/goswami041212.html For Whom Do the FAO and Its Director-General Work?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052724/http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/goswami041212.html |date=4 March 2016 }}, ''[[Monthly Review|Monthly Review Magazine]]'', 2012.12.04</ref> Sen's 1981 essay ''Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation'' played a prominent part in forging the new consensus.<ref name="foodAndFamine" /><ref>{{cite book
|editor= John Baylis, Steve Smith and Patricia Owens
|author = Caroline Thomas and Tony Evans
|title=The Globalization of World Politics
|chapter = "Poverty, development and hunger"
|year= 2010
|isbn=978-0-19-956909-0
|publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]
}}</ref>

In 2007 and 2008, rapidly increasing [[food prices]] caused a [[2007–08 world food price crisis|global food crisis]]. [[Food riot]]s erupted in several dozen countries; in at least two cases, [[Haiti]] and [[Madagascar]], this led to the toppling of governments. A second ''global food crisis'' unfolded due to the spike in food prices of late 2010 and early 2011. Fewer food riots occurred, due in part to greater availability of food stock piles for relief. However, several analysts argue the food crisis was one of the causes of the [[Arab Spring]].<ref name="Politics of hunger" /><ref name="G202012" /><ref name="Brics">{{cite news
|url= http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/07/27/food-crisis-how-do-the-brics-fare/
|title= Food crisis: how do the Brics fare?
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|author= Andrew Bowman
|date= 27 July 2012
|access-date= 31 July 2012
|url-access= registration
|archive-date= 31 July 2012
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120731020155/http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/07/27/food-crisis-how-do-the-brics-fare/
|url-status= live
}}</ref>

===Efforts since the global 2008 crisis===
[[File:Food Assistance Convention.svg|thumb|right|Ratifiers and (potential) signatories to the [[Food Assistance Convention]]:<br />
{{legend|#cc88f9|Signed and ratified}}
{{legend|#115511|Signed and ratified, part of the European Union (which has ratified the treaty)}}
{{legend|#cccc44|Signed}}
{{legend|#44aa88|Signed, part of the European Union (which has ratified the treaty)}}
{{legend|#88f9cc|Potential signatory, part of the European Union (which has ratified the treaty)}}
{{legend|#f9cc88|Potential signatory}}]]
In the early 21st century, the attention paid to the problem of hunger by the leaders of advanced nations such as those that form the [[G8]] had somewhat subsided.<ref name="G202012"/> Prior to 2009, large scale efforts to fight hunger were mainly undertaken by governments of the worst affected countries, by civil society actors, and by multilateral and regional organizations. In 2009, Pope Benedict published his third encyclical, [[Caritas in Veritate]], which emphasised the importance of fighting against hunger. The encyclical was intentionally published immediately before the [[35th G8 summit|July 2009 G8 Summit]] to maximise its influence on that event. At the Summit, which took place at [[L'Aquila]] in central Italy, the ''L'Aquila Food Security Initiative'' was launched, with a total of US$22 billion committed to combat hunger.<ref>
{{cite news
|url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b71a9052-6d2b-11de-9032-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b71a9052-6d2b-11de-9032-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-status=live
|title= G8 to commit $20bn for food security
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|author= Guy Dinmore in L'Aquila
|date = 10 July 2009
|access-date=15 November 2009
|url-access=registration }}
</ref><ref name = "G8 and Pope">
{{cite news
|url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc9150d0-6af4-11de-861d-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc9150d0-6af4-11de-861d-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-status=live
|title= Pope condemns capitalism's 'failures'
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|author= Guy Dinmore in Rome
|date = 7 July 2009
|access-date=7 July 2009
|url-access=registration }}
</ref>

Food prices fell sharply in 2009 and early 2010, though analysts credit this much more to farmers increasing production in response to the 2008 spike in prices, than to the fruits of enhanced government action. However, since the 2009 G8 summit, the fight against hunger became a high-profile issue among the leaders of the worlds major nations and was a prominent part of the agenda for the [[2012 G-20 Mexico summit|2012 G-20 summit]].<ref name="G202012">
{{cite news
|url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a6137e70-b15e-11e1-9800-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a6137e70-b15e-11e1-9800-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=10 December 2022
|title= Food prices: Leaders seek a long-term solution to hunger pains
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|author= Javier Blas
|date = 18 June 2012
|access-date=31 July 2012
|url-access=registration }}
</ref><ref name = "2012G8">{{cite news
 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/may/25/2012-g8-summit-private-sector
 |title= 2012 G8 summit – private sector to the rescue of the world's poorest?
 |work= [[The Guardian]]
 |author= Joanna Rea
 |date= 25 May 2012
|access-date= 3 August 2012
|archive-date= 17 February 2015
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150217035849/http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/may/25/2012-g8-summit-private-sector
 |url-status= live
 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/wfs-home/foodpricesindex/en/ FAO Food Price Index] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830060321/http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/wfs-home/foodpricesindex/en/ |date=30 August 2013 }} FAO, Retrieved 4 December 2012</ref>

[[File:Prime Minister's Olympic hunger summit (7772208606).jpg|thumb|left|British prime minister [[David Cameron]] (waving to camera) hosting a hunger summit in 2012, with [[Pelé]] (second left) and [[Mo Farah]] (right) outside [[10 Downing Street]] in London]]

In April 2012, the [[Food Assistance Convention]] was signed, the world's first legally binding international agreement on food aid. The May 2012 [[Copenhagen Consensus]] recommended that efforts to combat hunger and malnutrition should be the first priority for politicians and private sector [[philanthropists]] looking to maximize the effectiveness of aid spending. They put this ahead of other priorities, like the fight against [[malaria]] and [[AIDS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/Projects/CC12/Outcome.aspx|title=Outcome - Copenhagen Consensus Center|website=www.copenhagenconsensus.com|access-date=3 August 2012|archive-date=16 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116065159/http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/Projects/CC12/Outcome.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> Also in May 2012, U.S. President [[Barack Obama]] launched a "new alliance for food security and nutrition"—a broad partnership between private sector, governmental and civil society actors—that aimed to "...achieve sustained and inclusive agricultural growth and raise 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years."<ref name="Ecologist-2014-04-03">[http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2343978/uk_aid_is_financing_a_corporate_scramble_for_africa.html UK 'aid' is financing a corporate scramble for Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212180204/http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2343978/uk_aid_is_financing_a_corporate_scramble_for_africa.html |date=12 December 2022 }}, Miriam Ross, ''[[The Ecologist]]'', 2014.04.03</ref><ref name = "2012G8"/><ref>[https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/globalfoodsecurity/190282.htm G8 Action on Food Security and Nutrition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018112424/https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/globalfoodsecurity/190282.htm |date=18 October 2021 }} 2012 statement hosted by the US Department of State</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/18/remarks-president-symposium-global-agriculture-and-food-security |title=Remarks by President concerning the launch of the ''new alliance for food security and nutrition'' |date=18 May 2012 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=26 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726031048/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/18/remarks-president-symposium-global-agriculture-and-food-security |url-status=live }}</ref> The UK's prime minister [[David Cameron]] held a [[2012 Olympic hunger summit|hunger summit]] on 12 August, the last day of the [[2012 Summer Olympics]].<ref name="2012G8"/>

The fight against hunger has also been joined by an increased number of regular people. While folk throughout the world had long contributed to efforts to alleviate hunger in the developing world, there has recently been a rapid increase in the numbers involved in tackling domestic hunger even within the economically advanced nations of the [[Global North]]. This had happened much earlier in North America than it did in Europe. In the US, the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration scaled back welfare the early 1980s, leading to a vast increase of charity sector efforts to help Americans unable to buy enough to eat. According to a 1992 survey of 1000 randomly selected US voters, 77% of Americans had contributed to efforts to feed the hungry, either by volunteering for various hunger relief agencies such as [[food banks]] and [[soup kitchen]]s, or by donating cash or food.<ref>
{{cite book
|author = Janet Poppendieck
|title= Sweet Charity?: Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement
|chapter = Introduction, Chpt 1
|year= 1999
|isbn= 0-14-024556-1
|publisher= Penguine
}}</ref>
Europe, with its more generous welfare systems, had little awareness of domestic hunger until the food price inflation that began in late 2006, and especially as austerity-imposed welfare cuts began to take effect in 2010. Various surveys reported that upwards of 10% of Europe's population had begun to suffer from [[food insecurity]]. Especially since 2011, there has been a substantial increase in grass roots efforts to help the hungry by means of [[food bank]]s, both in the UK and in continental Europe.<ref name = "modell">{{cite news
 |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nqcbm
 |title= Britain's hidden hunger
 |publisher= [[BBC]]
 |author= David Model
 |date= 30 October 2012
|access-date= 4 November 2012
|author-link= David Model (journalist)
 |archive-date= 2 November 2012
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121102012401/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nqcbm
 |url-status= live
 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
 |url         = http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/million-hungry-children-uk-114022753.html
 |title       = A million hungry children in the UK
 |publisher   = [[Yahoo!]]
 |date        = 12 July 2012
|access-date  = 31 July 2012
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120720002016/http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/million-hungry-children-uk-114022753.html
 |archive-date = 20 July 2012
}}
</ref><ref name = "epidemic">{{Cite news
|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/look-back-in-hunger-britains-silent-scandalous-epidemic-7622363.html
|title= Look back in hunger: Britain's silent, scandalous epidemic
|work= [[The Guardian]]
|author= Charlie Cooper
|date= 6 April 2012
|access-date= 16 April 2012
|archive-date= 14 August 2015
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150814114646/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/look-back-in-hunger-britains-silent-scandalous-epidemic-7622363.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine
|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/society/2012/05/rise-and-rise-food-bank
|title=The rise and rise of the food bank
|magazine=[[New Statesman]]
|author=Rowenna Davis
|date=12 May 2012
|access-date=31 July 2012
|author-link=Rowenna Davis
|archive-date=18 June 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618010038/http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/society/2012/05/rise-and-rise-food-bank
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name="WarwickConf">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/gpp/foodsecurity/publicevents/householdfoodsecurity/food_security_summary.pdf
 |title       = HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN THE GLOBAL NORTH: CHALLENGES AND RESPONSIBILITIES REPORT OF WARWICK CONFERENCE
 |publisher   = [[Warwick University]]
 |date        = 6 July 2012
|access-date  = 28 August 2012
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20130112230035/http://www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/gpp/foodsecurity/publicevents/householdfoodsecurity/food_security_summary.pdf
 |archive-date = 12 January 2013
}}</ref>
[[File:Sahel Map-Africa rough.png|thumb|left|Affected areas in the western [[Sahel]] belt during the [[2012 Sahel drought|2012 drought]]]]
By July 2012, the [[2012 US drought]] had already caused a rapid increase in the price of grain and soy, with a knock on effect on the price of meat. As well as affecting hungry people in the US, this caused prices to rise on the global markets; the US is the world's biggest exporter of food. This led to much talk of a possible third 21st century global food crisis. The ''Financial Times'' reported that the [[BRICS]] may not be as badly affected as they were in the earlier crises of 2008 and 2011. However, smaller developing countries that must import a substantial portion of their food could be hard hit. The UN and [[G20]] has begun contingency planning so as to be ready to intervene if a third global crisis breaks out.<ref name="WB30Jul12"/><ref name="Brics"/><ref name="US drought">
{{cite news
|url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2866ba4a-da40-11e1-b03b-00144feab49a.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2866ba4a-da40-11e1-b03b-00144feab49a.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-status=live
|title= US drought: Stuck on dry land: Heatwave threatens new global food crisis
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|author= Gregory Meyer
|date = 30 July 2012
|access-date=31 July 2012
|url-access=registration }}
</ref><ref name = "2012Response">
{{cite news
|url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/17cca4aa-e47d-11e1-affe-00144feab49a.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/17cca4aa-e47d-11e1-affe-00144feab49a.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-status=live
|title= G20 plans response to rising food prices
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|author= Javier Bains
|date = 12 August 2012
|access-date=15 August 2012
|url-access=registration }}
</ref>
By August 2013 however, concerns had been allayed, with above average grain harvests expected from major exporters, including Japan, Brazil, Ukraine and the US.<ref>
{{cite news
|url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/30333ab6-0431-11e3-8aab-00144feab7de.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/30333ab6-0431-11e3-8aab-00144feab7de.html |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-status=live
|title= Bumper grain crop to weigh on prices
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|author= Gregory Meyer in New York and Samantha Pearson in São Paulo
|date = 13 August 2013
|access-date=24 August 2013
|url-access=registration }}
</ref> 2014 also saw a good worldwide harvest, leading to speculation that grain prices could soon begin to fall.<ref>{{cite news
|url= http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/42403074-3fe0-11e4-a381-00144feabdc0.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/42403074-3fe0-11e4-a381-00144feabdc0.html |archive-date=10 December 2022
|title= Commodities: Cereal excess
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|author= Gregory Meyer
|date = 23 September 2014
|access-date= 14 October 2014
|url-access=registration }}
</ref>

In an April 2013 summit held in [[Dublin]] concerning Hunger, Nutrition, [[Climate Justice]], and the post 2015 MDG framework for global justice, Ireland's [[Michael D. Higgins|President Higgins]] said that only 10% of deaths from hunger are due to armed conflict and natural disasters, with ongoing hunger being both the "greatest ethical failure of the current global system" and the "greatest ethical challenge facing the global community."<ref>{{Cite video
|url= http://www.eu2013.ie/events/event-items/hncj/
|title= 20130415 Hunger • Nutrition • Climate Justice - Michael D Higgins Speech
|publisher= [[European Union|EU]]
|author= [[Michael D. Higgins]]
|date= 15 April 2013
|access-date= 15 April 2013
|archive-date= 19 April 2013
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130419070937/http://www.eu2013.ie/events/event-items/hncj/
}}</ref>
$4.15 billion of new commitments were made to tackle hunger at a June 2013 Hunger Summit held in London, hosted by the governments of Britain and Brazil, together with [[The Children's Investment Fund Foundation]].<ref>{{Cite web
|url= http://allafrica.com/stories/201306080366.html
|title= Africa: Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) Leads Transformation of Global Nutrition Agenda with $787 million Investment
|publisher= [[AllAfrica.com|AllAfrica]]
|date= 8 June 2013
|access-date= 9 June 2013
|archive-date= 15 June 2013
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130615052035/http://allafrica.com/stories/201306080366.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|url= http://metro.co.uk/2013/06/08/david-cameron-tells-hunger-summit-we-must-do-things-differently-3833224/
|title= Hunger Summit secures £2.7bn as thousands rally at Hyde Park
|newspaper= [[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]]
|author= Luke Cross
|date= 8 June 2013
|access-date= 9 June 2013
|archive-date= 11 June 2013
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130611054202/http://metro.co.uk/2013/06/08/david-cameron-tells-hunger-summit-we-must-do-things-differently-3833224/
|url-status= live
}}</ref>

Despite the hardship caused by the [[2008 financial crisis]] and global increases in food prices that occurred around the same time, the UN's global statistics show it was followed by close to year on year reductions in the numbers suffering from hunger around the world. By 2019 however, evidence had mounted that this progress seemed to have gone into reverse over the last four years. The numbers suffering from hunger had risen both in absolute terms and very slightly even as a percentage of the world's population.<ref name="GuardS2018">{{cite news |author=Harvey |first1=Fiona |author-link1=Fiona Harvey |last2=McVeigh |first2=Karen |date=11 September 2018 |title=Global hunger levels rising due to extreme weather, UN warns |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/11/global-hunger-levels-rising-due-to-extreme-weather-un-warns |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229090259/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/11/global-hunger-levels-rising-due-to-extreme-weather-un-warns |archive-date=29 December 2018 |access-date=27 December 2018 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref name = "BBCS2018">{{cite news
 |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45477930
 |title= Global hunger increasing, UN warns
 |work= [[BBC]]
 |author= Smitha Mundasad
 |date= 11 September 2018
|access-date= 27 December 2018
|archive-date= 31 December 2018
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181231001716/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45477930
 |url-status= live
 }}</ref><ref name="FAO2019"/>

In 2019, FAO its annual edition of ''The State of Food and Agriculture'' which asserted that food loss and waste has potential effects on food security and nutrition through changes in the four dimensions of food security: food availability, access, utilization and stability. However, the links between food loss and waste reduction and food security are complex, and positive outcomes are not always certain. Reaching acceptable levels of food security and nutrition inevitably implies certain levels of food loss and waste. Maintaining buffers to ensure food stability requires a certain amount of food to be lost or wasted. At the same time, ensuring food safety involves discarding unsafe food, which then is counted as lost or wasted, while higher-quality diets tend to include more highly perishable foods. How the impacts on the different dimensions of food security play out and affect the food security of different population groups depends on where in the food supply chain the reduction in losses or waste takes place as well as on where nutritionally vulnerable and food-insecure people are located geographically.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca6122en|title=The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction, In brief|publisher=FAO|year=2019|location=Rome|pages=15–16|access-date=4 May 2021|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429155350/http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca6122en|url-status=live}}</ref>

In April and May 2020, concerns were expressed that the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] could result in a doubling in global hunger unless world leaders acted to prevent this. Agencies such as the WFP warned that this could include the number of people facing acute hunger rising from 135 million to about 265 million by the end of 2020. Indications of extreme hunger were seen in various cities, such as fatal stampedes when word spread that emergency food aid was being handed out. Letters calling for co-ordinated action to offset the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were written to the [[G20]] and [[G7]], by various actors including NGOs, UN staff, corporations, academics and former national leaders.<ref name="double2020">{{cite web |author=Harvey |first=Fiona |author-link=Fiona Harvey |date=9 April 2020 |title=Coronavirus could double number of people going hungry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/coronavirus-could-double-number-of-people-going-hungry |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716173157/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/coronavirus-could-double-number-of-people-going-hungry |archive-date=16 July 2020 |access-date=17 April 2020 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/world/africa/coronavirus-hunger-crisis.html
|title= 'Instead of Coronavirus, the Hunger Will Kill Us.' A Global Food Crisis Looms.
|work= [[The New York Times]]
|author= Abdi Latif Dahir
|date= 22 April 2020
|access-date= 5 May 2020
|archive-date= 20 May 2020
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200520223700/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/world/africa/coronavirus-hunger-crisis.html
|url-status= live
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web
|url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hunger-crisis-coronavirus-pandemic/
|title= "I'm starving now": World faces unprecdented hunger crisis amid coronavirus pandemic
|publisher= [[CBS News]]
|date= 2 May 2020
|author=Debora Patta |author2=Haley Ott
|access-date= 5 May 2020
|archive-date= 5 May 2020
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200505095150/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hunger-crisis-coronavirus-pandemic/
|url-status= live
}}</ref>
<ref name = "FSIN2020April">{{cite web
|url= https://www.fsinplatform.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/GRFC_2020_ONLINE_200420.pdf
|title= 2020GLOBAL REPORT ON FOOD CRISES
|publisher= Food Security Information Network
|date= April 2020
|access-date= 5 May 2020
|archive-date= 5 May 2020
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200505112107/https://www.fsinplatform.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/GRFC_2020_ONLINE_200420.pdf
|url-status= live
}}</ref>
The FAO found that 122 million more people experienced hunger in 2022 compared to 2019.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc8166en |title=World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2023 |date=29 November 2023 |publisher=FAO |isbn=978-92-5-138262-2 |language=en |doi=10.4060/cc8166en}}</ref> Following the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|2022 invasion of Ukraine]], concerns have been raised over hunger resulting from rising food prices. This is forecast to risk civil unrest even in many middle income countries, where government capability to protect their populations was largely exhausted by the Covid pandemic, and has not yet recovered.<ref>{{cite news
 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/21/apocalypse-now-the-alarming-effects-of-the-global-food-crisis
 |title= Apocalypse now? The alarming effects of the global food crisis
 |work= [[The Guardian]]
 |author= Simon Tisdall
 |date= 21 May 2022
|access-date= 21 May 2022
|archive-date= 21 May 2022
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220521132751/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/21/apocalypse-now-the-alarming-effects-of-the-global-food-crisis
 |url-status= live
 }}</ref>

Between 713 and 757 million people may have faced hunger in 2023 – one out of 11 people in the world, and one out of every five in [[Africa]]. The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity has remained unchanged at the global level from 2020 to 2023 with hunger is still on the rise in Africa, but it has remained relatively unchanged in [[Asia]], while progress has been made in the [[Latin Americans|Latin American]] and [[Caribbean]] region. Africa is the region with the largest percentage of the population facing hunger – 20.4 %, compared with 8.1% in Asia, 6.2& in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 7.3% in Oceania. However, Asia is still home to the largest number: 384.5 million, or more than half of all those facing hunger in the world. In Africa, 298.4 million people may have faced hunger in 2023, compared with 41.0 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 3.3 million in Oceania.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=FAO |url=https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd1254en |title=The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 |last2=IFAD |last3=UNICEF |last4=WFP |last5=WHO |date=2024 |publisher=FAO ; IFAD ; UNICEF ; WFP ; WHO |isbn=978-92-5-138882-2 |language=English |doi=10.4060/cd1254en}}</ref>

==Hunger relief organisations==
Many thousands of hunger relief organisations exist across the world. Some but not all are entirely dedicated to fighting hunger. They range from independent soup kitchens that serve only one locality, to global organisations. Organisations working at the global and regional level will often focus much of their efforts on helping hungry communities to better feed themselves, for example by sharing agricultural technology. With some exceptions, organisations that work just on the local level tend to focus more on providing food directly to hungry people. Many of the entities are connected by a web of national, regional and global alliances that help them share resources, knowledge, and coordinate efforts.<ref name = "FAOalliances">{{Cite web
|url=http://www.fao.org/3/a-i2859e.pdf
|title=Organizing for action
|publisher=[[FAO]]
|date=2011
|access-date=27 December 2018
|archive-date=30 December 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230233834/http://www.fao.org/3/a-i2859e.pdf
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

===Global===
The United Nations is central to global efforts to relieve hunger, most especially through the [[FAO]], and also via other agencies: such as [[WFP]], [[IFAD]], [[WHO]] and [[UNICEF]]. After the [[Millennium Development Goals]] expired in 2015, the [[Sustainable Development Goals]] (SDGs) became key objectives to shape the world's response to development challenges such as hunger. In particular [[Sustainable Development Goal 2|Goal 2]]: ''Zero Hunger'' sets globally agreed targets to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/|title=Hunger and food security - United Nations Sustainable Development|access-date=28 June 2017|archive-date=10 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210035826/https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name = "FAOintro"/><ref name = "FSIN2020April"/>

Aside from the UN agencies themselves, hundreds of other actors address the problem of hunger on the global level, often involving participation in large umbrella organisations. These include national governments, religious groups, international charities and in some cases international corporations. Though except perhaps in the cases of dedicated charities, the priority these organisations assign to hunger relief may vary from year to year. In many cases the organisations partner with the UN agencies, though often they pursue independent goals. For example, [[Post-2015 Development Agenda|as consensus began to form]] for the SDG ''zero hunger'' goal to aim to end hunger by 2030, a number of organizations formed initiatives with the more ambitious target to achieve this outcome early, by 2025:
* In 2013 Caritas International started a Caritas-wide initiative aimed at ending systemic hunger by 2025. The One human family, food for all campaign focuses on awareness raising, improving the impact of Caritas programs and advocating the implementation of the right to food.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.caritas.org/2013/12/pope-francis-denounces-global-scandal-hunger/|title=Pope Francis denounces 'global scandal' of hunger|date=9 December 2013|access-date=17 October 2015|archive-date=19 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191119135857/https://www.caritas.org/2013/12/pope-francis-denounces-global-scandal-hunger/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The partnership Compact2025, led by [[International Food Policy Research Institute|IFPRI]] with the involvement of UN organisations, NGOs and private foundations<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.compact2025.org/about-compact2025/governance/leadership-council/|title=Leadership Council|website=www.compact2025.org|access-date=17 October 2015|archive-date=5 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105052340/http://www.compact2025.org/about-compact2025/governance/leadership-council/|url-status=usurped}}</ref> develops and disseminates evidence-based advice to politicians and other decision-makers aimed at ending hunger and undernutrition in the coming 10 years, by 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ifpri.org/publication/compact-2025-ending-hunger-and-undernutrition|title=Compact2025: Ending hunger and undernutrition - IFPRI|website=www.ifpri.org|access-date=17 October 2015|archive-date=29 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129073235/https://www.ifpri.org/publication/compact-2025-ending-hunger-and-undernutrition|url-status=live}}</ref> It bases its claim that hunger can be ended by 2025 on a report by [[Shenggen Fan]] and [[Paul Polman]] that analyzed the experiences from Russia, China, Vietnam, Brazil and Thailand and concludes that eliminating hunger and undernutrition was possible by 2025.<ref name="IFPRI2013"/>
* In June 2015, the [[European Union]] and the [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation]] launched a partnership to combat undernutrition especially in children. The program would initially be implemented in Bangladesh, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Laos and Niger and will help these countries to improve information and analysis about nutrition so they can develop effective national nutrition policies.<ref>European Commission Press release. June 2015. [http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5104_en.htm EU launches new partnership to combat Undernutrition with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526180626/http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5104_en.htm |date=26 May 2019 }}. Accessed on 1 November 2015</ref>

==== Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2 or Goal 2) ====
The objective of [[Sustainable Development Goal 2|SDG 2]] is to "end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote [[sustainable agriculture]]" by 2030. SDG2 recognizes that dealing with hunger is not only based on increasing food production but also on proper markets, access to land and technology and increased and efficient incomes for farmers.<ref>{{Cite web|last=sdg indicators|first=end hunger|title=Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture|url=https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2017/goal-02/|access-date=23 September 2020|archive-date=29 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929104608/https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2017/goal-02/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A report by the [[International Food Policy Research Institute]] (IFPRI) of 2013 argued that the emphasis of the SDGs should be on eliminating hunger and under-nutrition, rather than on poverty, and that attempts should be made to do so by 2025 rather than 2030.<ref name="IFPRI2013">Fan, Shenggen and Polman, Paul. 2014. [http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128045 An ambitious development goal: Ending hunger and undernutrition by 2025] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019143330/http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128045 |date=19 October 2017 }}. In 2013 Global food policy report. Eds. Marble, Andrew and Fritschel, Heidi. Chapter 2. pp. 15–28. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).</ref> The argument is based on an analysis of experiences in Russia, China, Vietnam, Brazil, and Thailand and the fact that people suffering from severe hunger face extra impediments to improving their lives, whether it be by education or work. Three pathways to achieve this were identified: 1) agriculture-led; 2) social protection- and nutrition- intervention-led; or 3) a combination of both of these approaches.<ref name="IFPRI2013"/>

===Regional===
Much of the world's regional alliances are located in Africa. For example, the ''Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa'' or the [[Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa]].<ref name = "101orgs">{{Cite web
|url=https://foodtank.com/news/2015/01/one-hundred-one-global-food-organizations-to-watch-in-twenty-fifteen/
|title=101 Global Food Organizations to Watch in 2015
|publisher=[[Food Tank]]
|date=January 2015
|access-date=27 December 2018
|archive-date=31 December 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231000649/https://foodtank.com/news/2015/01/one-hundred-one-global-food-organizations-to-watch-in-twenty-fifteen/
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name = "FAOalliances"/>

The [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] of the UN has created a partnership that will act through the [[African Union]]'s CAADP framework aiming to end hunger in Africa by 2025. It includes different interventions including support for improved food production, a strengthening of social protection and integration of the right to food into national legislation.<ref>FAO. 2015. [http://www.fao.org/africa/perspectives/end-hunger/en/ Africa's Renewed Partnership to End Hunger by 2025] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128135659/http://www.fao.org/africa/perspectives/end-hunger/en |date=28 January 2020 }}. Accessed on 1 November 2015.</ref>

===National===
[[File:Passing out groceries.jpg|thumb|Volunteers pass out food items from a food bank run by [[Feeding America]].]]
Examples of hunger relief organisations that operate on the national level include [[The Trussell Trust]] in the United Kingdom, the Nalabothu Foundation in India, and Feeding America in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://foodandnutrition.org/september-october-2013/7-top-hunger-organizations/
|title=7 Top Hunger Organizations
|work=Food & Nutrition Magazine
|date=26 August 2018
|access-date=27 December 2018
|archive-date=24 December 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224202214/http://foodandnutrition.org/september-october-2013/7-top-hunger-organizations/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

===Local===
==== Food bank ====

A [[food bank]] (or foodbank) is a non-profit, charitable organization that aids in the distribution of food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger. Food banks tend to run on different operating models depending on where they are located. In the U.S., Australia, and to some extent in Canada, foodbanks tend to perform a warehouse type function, storing and delivering food to front line food orgs, but not giving it directly to hungry peoples themselves. In much of Europe and elsewhere, food banks operate on the ''front line'' model, where they hand out parcels of uncooked food direct to the hungry, typically giving them enough for several meals which they can eat in their homes. In the U.S and Australia, establishments that hand out uncooked food to individual people are instead called ''food pantries'', ''food shelves'' or ''food closets'.<ref>{{cite book | last=Riches | first=G. | title=Food Banks and the Welfare Crisis | publisher=James Lorimer Limited, Publishers | year=1986 | isbn=978-0-88810-363-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BW9CEBIslSQC&pg=PA25 | access-date=19 December 2018 | pages=25, ''passim'', see esp. "Models of Food Banks" | archive-date=12 January 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112203145/https://books.google.com/books?id=BW9CEBIslSQC&pg=PA25 | url-status=live }}</ref>

In [[Less Developed Countries]], there are charity-run food banks that operate on a semi-commercial system that differs from both the more common "warehouse" and "frontline" models. In some rural [[Least developed country|LDCs]] such as Malawi, food is often relatively cheap and plentiful for the first few months after the harvest, but then becomes more and more expensive. Food banks in those areas can buy large amounts of food shortly after the harvest, and then as food prices start to rise, they sell it back to local people throughout the year at well below market prices. Such food banks will sometimes also act as centers to provide small holders and subsistence farmers with various forms of support.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thp.org/where_we_work/africa/malawi/overview |title=''The hunger project'', overview for Malawi |publisher=Thp.org |access-date=25 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724042611/http://www.thp.org/where_we_work/africa/malawi/overview |archive-date=24 July 2014 }}</ref>

==== Soup kitchen ====
[[File:MontrealSoupKitchen1931.jpg|thumb|A soup kitchen in [[Montreal, Quebec]], Canada in 1931]]
A [[soup kitchen]], '''meal center,''' or '''food kitchen''' is a place where [[food]] is offered to the hungry for free or at a below market [[price]]. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by [[Volunteering|volunteer]] organizations, such as [[Church body|church]] or community groups. Soup kitchens sometimes obtain food from a [[food bank]] for free or at a low price, because they are considered a [[Charitable organization|charity]], which makes it easier for them to feed the many people who require their services.

====Others====
Local establishments calling themselves "food banks" or "soup kitchens" are often run either by Christian churches or less frequently by secular civil society groups. Other religions carry out similar hunger relief efforts, though sometimes with slightly different methods. For example, in the Sikh tradition of [[Langar (Sikhism)|Langar]], food is served to the hungry direct from Sikh temples. There are exceptions to this, for example in the UK Sikhs run some of the food banks, as well as giving out food direct from their [[Gurdwara]]s.<ref>{{cite book | last=  Fieldhouse| first=Paul | title=Food, Feasts, and Faith: An Encyclopedia of Food Culture in World Religions  | publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-61069-411-7 | pages=97–102 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://theconversation.com/from-the-temple-to-the-street-how-sikh-kitchens-are-becoming-the-new-food-banks-44611
|title=From the temple to the street: how Sikh kitchens are becoming the new food banks
|publisher=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]
|date=22 July 2015
|access-date=3 January 2019
|archive-date=12 July 2019
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712141215/https://theconversation.com/from-the-temple-to-the-street-how-sikh-kitchens-are-becoming-the-new-food-banks-44611
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

==Hunger and gender==
{{See also|Food security#Gender and food security}}
[[File:Lange-MigrantMother02.jpg|thumb|''[[Migrant Mother]]'' by [[Dorothea Lange]] (1936)]]

World Bank studies consistently find that about 60% of those who are hungry are female. Globally, women typically face greater economic barriers compared to men and have access to fewer resources, creating greater obstacles to food security. In both developing and advanced countries, parents sometimes go without food so they can feed their children. Women, however, seem more likely to make this sacrifice than men. Older sources sometimes claim this phenomenon is unique to developing countries, due to greater sexual inequality. More recent findings suggested that mothers often miss meals in advanced economies too. For example, a 2012 study undertaken by [[Netmums]] in the UK found that one in five mothers sometimes misses out on food to save their children from hunger.<ref name="WB30Jul12"/><ref>{{Cite web
 |url=http://www.wdm.org.uk/food-and-hunger/555-million-women-go-hungry-worldwide
 |title=555 million women go hungry worldwide
 |publisher=[[World Development Movement]]
 |author=Miriam Ross
 |date=8 March 2012
|access-date=31 July 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321213616/http://www.wdm.org.uk/food-and-hunger/555-million-women-go-hungry-worldwide
 |archive-date=21 March 2012
}}
</ref><ref>{{Cite news
|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/9084054/Mums-missing-meals-to-feed-kids.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217152607/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/9084054/Mums-missing-meals-to-feed-kids.html

|archive-date=17 February 2012
|title=Mums missing meals to feed kids
|work= [[The Daily Telegraph]]
|date= 16 February 2012
|access-date= 31 July 2012
}}
</ref>

One partner-households are especially vulnerable to food insecurity and highlight a gender disparity in food security. In the U.S., households with children raised by single-mothers are more likely to be food insecure compared to households with single-fathers.<ref>{{Cite journal |title= Household food security in the United States in 2022  |url=https://search.nal.usda.gov/discovery/fulldisplay?&context=L&vid=01NAL_INST:MAIN&docid=alma9916411232407426 |access-date=23 March 2024 |website=search.nal.usda.gov | date=2023 |language=en |doi=10.32747/2023.8134351.ers | last1=Rabbitt | first1=Matthew P. | last2=Hales | first2=Laura J. | last3=Burke | first3=Michael P. | last4=Coleman-Jensen | first4=Alisha | url-access=subscription }}</ref> Differences in time allocation between paid work and unpaid work may also be an explanation for increased food disparity in women-lead households, as women tend to dedicate more time to unpaid work comparatively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Silva |first1=Andres |last2=Astorga |first2=Andres |last3=Faundez |first3=Rodrigo |last4=Santos |first4=Karla |date=15 August 2023 |title=Revisiting food insecurity gender disparity |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=18 |issue=8 |pages=e0287593 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0287593 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=10426994 |pmid=37582082|bibcode=2023PLoSO..1887593S }}</ref>

In several periods and regions, gender has also been an important factor determining whether or not victims of hunger would make suitable examples for generating enthusiasm for hunger relief efforts. James Vernon, in his ''Hunger: A Modern History'', wrote that in Britain before the twentieth century, it was generally only women and children suffering from hunger who could arouse compassion. Men who failed to provide for themselves and their families were often regarded with contempt.<ref name = "HungerModHist"/>

This changed after [[World War I]], where thousands of men who had proved their manliness in combat found themselves unable to secure employment. Similarly, female gender could be advantageous for those wishing to advocate for hunger relief, with Vernon writing that being a woman helped [[Emily Hobhouse]] draw the plight of hungry people to wider attention during the [[Second Boer War]].<ref name = "HungerModHist"/>

==Hunger and age==
===United States===
The elderly have an increased risk of going hungry as well as increased negative effects of hunger. In the US the number of seniors experiencing hunger rose 88% between 2001 and 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.bread.org/who-experiences-hunger|title = Who Experiences Hunger|website=Bread for the World|date = 5 February 2015|access-date = 26 October 2021|archive-date = 20 September 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220920001535/https://www.bread.org/who-experiences-hunger|url-status = live}}</ref>

This age group suffers the most from chronic conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory diseases. Eighty percent of this group has a minimum of one chronic condition, and almost 70% have two or more.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncoa.org/article/get-the-facts-on-healthy-aging|title=The National Council on Aging|access-date=26 October 2021|archive-date=16 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116172824/https://www.ncoa.org/article/get-the-facts-on-healthy-aging|url-status=live}}</ref> These illnesses are exacerbated and are more likely to develop under the addition of hunger. A report from 2017 shows that seniors facing this issue are 60% more likely to experience depression than seniors who are not hungry, and 40% are more likely to develop congestive heart failure. The added stress of inconsistent and inadequate feedings make these conditions much more dangerous.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://aginginplace.org/the-facts-behind-senior-hunger/|title = The Facts Behind Senior Hunger - Updated for 2021|date = 12 November 2018|access-date = 26 October 2021|archive-date = 12 August 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220812150750/https://aginginplace.org/the-facts-behind-senior-hunger/|url-status = live}}</ref>

Fixed incomes often limit the elderly's ability to freely purchase food necessities.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Medical costs and housing may take priority over quality foods. Limited mobility makes it difficult for these individuals to physically leave their homes, especially in areas lacking public transportation or transportation catering to a disabled body.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} The COVID-19 pandemic made things more difficult, older people statistically suffer worse outcomes, and so could be reluctant to venture out for food.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

The [[Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program]] (SNAP) provides aid to low-income seniors in relation to food security. This is an opportunity for seniors who receive benefits to allocate money in their budgets for other needs, such as medical or housing bills. However, participation is extremely low. Fewer than half of eligible seniors are enrolled and receive benefits; 3 out of five seniors are qualified but not enrolled.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncoa.org/article/7-facts-about-older-adults-and-snap|title=The National Council on Aging|access-date=26 October 2021|archive-date=11 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911161125/https://www.ncoa.org/article/7-facts-about-older-adults-and-snap|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Food}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Action Against Hunger]]
* ''[[A Place at the Table]]''
* [[Basic income]]
* [[:Category:Hunger relief organizations]]
* [[Donation]]
* [[Economic issues]]
* [[Famine]]
* [[Famine relief]]
* [[Famine scales]]
* [[Feeding America]]
* [[Fome Zero]] (Hunger 0)
* [[Food Bank]]
* [[Food Donation Connection]]
* [[Food Matters]]
* [[Food production]]
* [[Global Hunger Index]]
* [[Homelessness]]
* [[Human rights]]
* [[Hunger in the United Kingdom]]
* [[Hunger in the United States]]
* [[Hunger marches]]
* [[The Hunger Project]]
* [[Income inequality]]
* [[Integrated Food Security Phase Classification]]
* [[Malnutrition]]
* [[Muselmann]]
* [[National Security Study Memorandum 200]] (1974)
* [[Oxfam]]
* [[Poverty trap]]
* [[Project Open Hand]]
* [[Right to food]]
* [[Social programs]]
* [[Soup kitchen]]
* [[Starvation]]
* [[Starvation response]]
* [[United Nations Millennium Declaration]]
* [[Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition]] (1974)
* [[2007–08 world food price crisis]]{{div col end}}

== Sources ==
{{Free-content attribution
| title = The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction, In brief
| author = FAO
| publisher = FAO
| page numbers = 24
| source =
| documentURL =http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca6122en
| license statement URL = https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_State_of_Food_and_Agriculture_2019._Moving_forward_on_food_loss_and_waste_reduction,_In_brief.pdf
| license = CC BY-SA 3.0
}}

{{Free-content attribution
| title = The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024
| author = FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO
| publisher = FAO
| documentURL = https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd1254en
| license = CC BY 4.0
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Michelle Jurkovich. 2020. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctvrxk1j8 ''Feeding the Hungry: Advocacy and Blame in the Global Fight against Hunger''.] Cornell University Press.
* {{cite book |last1=Wallerstein |first1=Mitchel B. |title=Food for War/Food for Peace: U.S. Food Aid in a Global Context |date=1980 |publisher=MIT Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=9780262231060}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiversity}}
* [http://www.actionagainsthunger.org Action Against Hunger {{!}} ACF-USA]
* [http://www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk Action Against Hunger {{!}} ACF-UK]
* [https://www.hungerreliefinternational.org Hunger Relief International {{!}} HRI]
* [http://www.issuelab.org/issues/profile/hunger Hunger Relief research on IssueLab]
* [http://www.fao.org/fsnforum The Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)]
* [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090601/ten_things Ten Things you can do to Fight World Hunger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106230857/http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090601/ten_things |date=6 January 2010 }} ''The Nation'', 13 May 2009
* [http://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N07/487/05/PDF/N0748705.pdf?OpenElement United Nation 2007 report]
* [http://wfp.org World Food Programme {{!}} WFP]

{{Nutritional pathology}}{{Feeding}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hunger| ]]
[[Category:Limbic system]]
[[Category:Motivation]]
[[Category:Neuropsychology]]
[[Category:Eating behaviors]]