The UN Food and Agricultural Organization came out with a report this Thanksgiving that reports what it says is "a disturbing trend."
Between 1970 and 1996 the number of people living "below starvation levels" dropped from the record high of 1,447 million people to 1,025 million people. Between 1996 and 2003, however, the number rose to 1,171 million people. The FAO claims that this represents a trend towards less giving from the developed countries and is a problem.
What the FAO doesn't tell you is that the 50-million person "increase" accompanies a 700-million person increase in the general population; the actual number of people "below starvation levels" dropped by 650 million people in that time period, and as a total percentage of the population the drop from 1986 to 2003 is from 18% to 17%. (Contrast this to 1970, when the UN first kept records and showed that 37% of the world's population lived "below starvation levels.")
You'll probably be seeing news reports about this in the coming days. Keep in mind this spin on it: the number of people starving, as a percentage of the world population, has dropped and continues to drop, even now. (Whether you think the 700 million people added in the past decade is a "good thing" or not is a different story, but I bet none of them are unhappy to be here.) The only countries where starvation has risen are those torn by civil war or run by autocrats who would rather weild power themselves than devolve it to capitalist interests.
Between 1970 and 1996 the number of people living "below starvation levels" dropped from the record high of 1,447 million people to 1,025 million people. Between 1996 and 2003, however, the number rose to 1,171 million people. The FAO claims that this represents a trend towards less giving from the developed countries and is a problem.
What the FAO doesn't tell you is that the 50-million person "increase" accompanies a 700-million person increase in the general population; the actual number of people "below starvation levels" dropped by 650 million people in that time period, and as a total percentage of the population the drop from 1986 to 2003 is from 18% to 17%. (Contrast this to 1970, when the UN first kept records and showed that 37% of the world's population lived "below starvation levels.")
You'll probably be seeing news reports about this in the coming days. Keep in mind this spin on it: the number of people starving, as a percentage of the world population, has dropped and continues to drop, even now. (Whether you think the 700 million people added in the past decade is a "good thing" or not is a different story, but I bet none of them are unhappy to be here.) The only countries where starvation has risen are those torn by civil war or run by autocrats who would rather weild power themselves than devolve it to capitalist interests.
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