General determinant of hunger

General exhaust gas uses a polyparametric study that takes into account three equivalent parameters:

1. the number of undernourished as a percentage of the total population (shows the proportion of the population who are undernourished);
2. the level of prevalence of underweight in children under 5 years of age (it shows the proportion of children suffering from weight loss and reduced growth);
3. mortality among children under 5 years of age (partially reflecting the detrimental effect of nutritional and health deficiency).

This polyparametric EFS study has several advantages over others. It covers various manifestations of hunger and malnutrition, expressing them in one indicative number, and instantly gives an idea of ​​the situation on this complex issue. It takes into account not only the entire population as a whole, but also takes into account the situation of vulnerable groups - children - for whom malnutrition creates a high risk of disease and death. In addition, the use of these parameters separately can lead to errors in their evaluation.

OOG: (DNN + DNV + DU) / 3

DNN = percentage of undernourished people

DNV = percentage of children under 5 years of age with underweight

DM = percentage of children dying before 5 years

States are rated on a 100 point scale. At the same time, 0 is the lowest exhaust gas, meaning the absence of hunger in the state. 100 is the highest exhaust. However, none of these indicators anywhere is not yet registered. A value of 4.9 indicates a low level of hunger, from 5 to 9.9 - moderate level of hunger, from 10 to 19.9 - high level of hunger, from 20 to 29.9 - critical, values ​​exceeding 30 indicate a catastrophic famine.

For FG, data for the period from 2001 to 2006 was used. The data on the number of undernourished people was provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the period 2002–2004. The data on infant mortality were provided by the United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF for the period 2006. The data on the nutrition of children for 2006 were provided by WHO .

Classification

The general determinant of hunger in 2008 was calculated for 120 developing countries and countries in transition. 88 of the surveyed countries received assessments similar to food security assessments for the 1990s. The remaining states had an OG below 5, so they were not taken into account in the classification.

Global and regional position

The global exhaust gas shows some improvement compared to 1990; it decreased from 18.7 to 15.2. The decrease was mainly due to the improvement in the nutritional status of children. However, with all this, the global fight against hunger and malnutrition is slow and global exhaust gas remains high.

The average global exhaust gas hides the striking differences between different countries and regions. 33 states have a critical (20-29.9) or catastrophic exhaust gas (≥ 30). In sub-Saharan Africa, exhaust emissions fell by less than 11% for 2008 compared with 1990. In Southeast Asia , the Middle East and North Africa, FG has decreased by about 25%. The decrease in Latin America was even greater, although it had a small exhaust gas, reduced it by about 40%.

Africa south of the Sahara and South Asia show the highest regional exhaust gas: 23.3 and 23, respectively. But the causes of food shortages in these two regions are different. In South Asia, the main reason is the widespread shortage of weight in children, as a result of the low level of nutrition and the level of education of women. In contrast, in sub-Saharan Africa, high EH is a result of high child mortality and a high proportion of people who do not have the ability to consume the right amount of food. The low efficiency of the state, war, political instability, and high prevalence of AIDS have increased this figure.

Leaders and laggards

In the period from 1990 to 2008. only a small number of states reduced their EG by half or more, while about a third made a moderate improvement, reducing EG by 25-50%.

Ghana is the only country in Africa south of the Sahara, which has reduced its OG by more than 40%, but no country in this region has reached the top ten countries with the strongest OG reduction. Kuwait showed a high level of reductions in the OG, but this was a great achievement in 1990, when Iraq invaded this country. The high growth rate of the agricultural sector and the decline in inflation have led to an improvement in the country, which is in second place for reducing FG - Peru .

From 1990 to 2008, Angola , Ethiopia , Ghana , Haiti , Malawi , Mozambique , Peru and Vietnam reduced their OG by more than 10 points. In 11 countries ( North Korea , states in the south of the Sahara), FG has grown. Conflicts and political instability in Burundi , Comoros , DRC , Guinea-Bissau, and Liberia led to a worsening food situation. In Botswana and Swaziland, AIDS and persistent instability have led to the destruction of the food security system, despite significant government wealth. Negative trends in the economy in general and in the food industry in particular in North Korea have increased the number of undernourished and underweight children and, as a result, the OG of North Korea.

Conflicts complicate the food situation

The states south of the Sahara, led by the DRC , Eritrea , Burundi , Niger and Sierra Leone, are at the top of the OG leader list. War and violence are the main causes of poverty and lack of food in most high-G countries. Another common reason for this is the lack of basic political and civil liberties. All 15 states with the highest OG were classified as non-free or partially free by the organization Freedom House from 2006 to 2008. Eritrea and the Democratic Republic of Congo now have the highest OG level - 75% and 74% of the population, respectively. India , Yemen and East Timor have the highest percentage of children under 5 years of age with reduced weight (this is more than 40% of all children in each of these countries). Sierra Leone and Angola have the highest mortality rates among children under 5 years of age (27% and 26%, respectively).

The rise in oil prices , climate change , and an increase in the area under cultivation of industrial crops for biofuel production gave rise to the food crisis of 2007–2008. Since 2003, the price of grain and vegetables has doubled, corn prices have tripled, and rice has quadrupled. In this regard, the struggle for food security in the world does not seem to be a simple matter, given that at least 800 million people were unprotected in food terms even before this jump in prices.

The global financial crisis of the late 2000s first brought down the prices of raw materials, such as oil, which led to a short-term decrease in the price of food. But the data published by FAO showed that in December 2010, the food price index in the world reached its highest level in the last 20 years and amounted to 215 points. Between June and December 2010, this figure increased by 32% ^[1] . As a result, by the beginning of 2011, the world was on the verge of a food crisis, which is partly a consequence of the global financial crisis of the late 2000s , as well as the food crisis of the late 1930s was caused by the Great Depression :

• the infusion of huge funds in 2009-2010 in the developed economies of the United States and the European Union led to the development of inflationary processes throughout the world, including in the economies of developing countries of the world, which in turn was one of the consequences of a significant increase in food prices;
• in addition, the increase in food prices has caused another increase in the price of oil (partly due to the depreciation of the US dollar ) and the largest droughts and floods resulting from climate change .

In turn, the onset of the food crisis could lead to global political change. For example, in January 2011, partly because of the food crisis, there was a revolution in Tunisia ^[2] and mass riots swept through the major cities of Egypt , where thousands of demonstrators demanded the resignation of the government ^[3] .

The limits to growth describe an even darker picture of possible depopulation.

• Ifpri / Concern / Welthungerhilfe: The Challenge of Hunger 2008: Global Hunger Index. Bonn, Dublin, Washington DC.
• Ifpri / Concern / Welthungerhilfe: The Challenge of Hunger 2007 - Global Hunger Index: Facts, determinants, and trends 2007.Bonn, Dublin, Washington DC.
• Ifpri / Concern / Welthungerhilfe: The Global Hunger Index: Facts, determinants, and trends. Sierra Leone.Bonn, Dublin, Washington DC

• International Food Policy Research Institute - IIPROP
• Malnutrition
• Mass hunger

• International Food Policy Research Institute - MIIPROP (eng.)
• "World Care" (eng.)
• Weltthungerhilfe (him)