1. Nathan Niederhauser Page |1
World hunger
World hunger is the worst problem in the world today. My goal today, is to bring to your
knowledge the facts surrounding world hunger and what you can do to help. Let’s start by
defining world Hunger. Hunger is a term which has three meanings according Oxford English
Dictionary (1971) “1.the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite.
Also the exhausted condition caused by want of food 2.the want or scarcity of food in a country
3.a strong desire or craving.” World hunger is defined by the 2nd definition on a world scale. I
think that world hunger is an unfair problem in the world and needs to be solved. Just because
people have fewer opportunities than me does not mean they can suffer hunger. In this paper I
will list statistics, other information surrounding world hunger and ways you can help so the
biggest problem in the world can be solved.
In 2010 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) estimated the number
of people hungry in the world. The numbers were:578 million in Asia and the Pacific, 39 million
in Sub-Saharan Africa, 53 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, 37 million in the Near
East and North Africa and 19 million in developed countries. That is a total of 925 million
people in the world. World Food Programme put it in a different statistic that puts a light on just
how big the problem is. They said that 1 in 7 people in the world are hungry. That is why I care
about world hunger. 1 in 7 is hungry because they have fewer opportunities than me, my parents
and the people around me. In the world 1 in 7 is starving just because. I think 1 in 7 is too big a
number and we need to change that. 13.1 percent of the world is in need and there is no one with
an organization big enough or has enough supplies and money to fix this huge problem. Not to
say there are fantastic organizations out there that to a lot of service, but we need something
more.

2. Nathan Niederhauser Page |2
A little more on hunger and how big a problem we really have. Hunger kills more people
than AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis combined, making it the world’s number one health risk. 1
in 3 children in the world are underweight in the world. Over 5 million children are killed each
year from hunger. That accounts for almost 50 percent of child deaths every year. What this
means is that those that died, their parents have to deal with the fact that they killed their children
just because they couldn’t support them, because they have less opportunities than you and me.
Another fact is that children with poor nutrition suffer an average of 160 days of illnesses a year.
That’s about 43 percent of their year, they are sick. To me that should not be happening. That is
not me and I don’t want it to happen to me and I don’t think it should happen to others. Also
undernutrition, which is what is really responsible of these sick kids, accounts for 61% of
diarrhea, 57% of malaria, 52% of pneumonia, and 45% of measles. That is a big percentage of
sicknesses that is caused by hunger and it happens so often to children which is not fair to them
because they should be able to grow up with the same opportunities as me.
According to the FAO the world produces enough food to provide everyone with about
2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day which is more than enough. So why does hunger
exist then? I think is mostly based on poverty and that they can’t buy enough food to provide for
themselves and that there are a lot of people out there that have for food than they should have
like maybe some big restaurant chains. So knowing this, what can we do to really help these
unfortunate people in the world? Some ways we can help would be participate in a food drive.
Most cities at least in America have an organization that has a frequent food drive or
organization that helps your local community. If you don’t have a local hunger organization you
can always get a few friends and start a food drive in your community.

3. Nathan Niederhauser Page |3
Another way we can help is by donating to the big organizations out there that do an
amazing job of providing to the hunger. You can go to their web site and they usually will have
an online donation page on their website which really helps. A few big examples are
http://worldhungerrelief.org/,www.worldhunger.org,http://www.wfp.org/hunger,http://www.acti
onagainsthunger.org/,andhttp://www.stophungernow.org/site/PageServer. But in my opinion, the
best way to help stop hunger is to spread the word. You can tell people about hunger and how we
must stop it and eventually we may have enough people and money to end hunger once and for
all. You never know who wants to help and by sharing with them your feelings toward world
hunger and they can help stop it too.
In conclusion I think that hunger is a huge problem that really needs to be solved as fast
as possible. It affects 925 million people and kills millions each year. You can help big
organizations that fight world hunger by donating on their website. Also you can help in your
community be participating in or organizing a food drive. But if anything I would like the reader
of this paper to spread the word at the very least that we as human beings, need to put an end to
the huge problem of world hunger.
Works Cited
Action Against Hunger. Global Malnutrition. 1 January 2012. 5 October 2012
<http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/hunger/global-malnutrition>.
Stop Hunger Now. Hunger Facts. 19 July 2012. 5 October 2012
<http://www.stophungernow.org/site/PageServer?pagename=learn_facts>.
World Food Programme . Hunger. 1 January 2012. 5 October 2012 <http://www.wfp.org/hunger>.
World Hunger Education Service. 2012 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics. 4 December
2011. 4 October 2012
<http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm>.

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World Hunger Relief, Inc. How You Can Help. 21 September 2012. 5 October 2012
<http://worldhungerrelief.org/how-you-can-help-2/>.