FAO: Hunger Increased by 75 million in 2007

Late yesterday the FAO released new estimates of the number of hungry people around the world. Given the rise in food prices experienced over the last several years (and most dramatically since the beginning of 2008), the news is not surprising, but it is troubling. In 2007, the number of hungry people increased by 75 million. FAO estimates that 923 million people suffer from hunger.

The report makes the sobering observation that "with the number of chronically hungry people in the world now higher than during the baseline period [1990-1992], the World Food Summit target of reducing that number by half by the year 2015 may be unreachable."