UN: Hunger Affects Record 1B

Food program directors warn that hunger crisis threatens world peace
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2009 8:17 AM CDT
UN: Hunger Affects Record 1B
Indian workers are seen silhouetted as they load rice sacks onto a truck at a grain market on the eve of World Food Day in Amritsar, India, last year.   (AP Photo/ Altaf Qadri )

United Nations food officials warn that a record 1 billion people worldwide aren't getting enough to eat, the BBC reports. The UN said the number of people affected by hunger—defined as getting less than 1,800 calories daily—has jumped by 100 million people over the last year because of the "devastating combination" of wars, high food prices, drought, and the global financial crisis.

Food prices are down from their peak last year but remain "stubbornly high" in many areas, the UN said, warning that the hunger crisis poses a serious risk to world peace. "A hungry world is a dangerous world," said the head of the UN's World Food Program. "Without food, people have only three options: They riot, they emigrate or they die. None of these are acceptable options." (More hunger stories.)

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