How many times have you said "I'm starving" or "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse"? Too many times probably.  It is something we all say without thinking about what hunger truly means.  The type of hunger I'm talking about is the kind where you would rather eat dirt than continue suffering from hunger pains.  The difference between hunger and malnutrition is that malnutrition means the body does not have the necessary vitamins and nutrients to grow or fight off disease. In developing countries where sanitation is poor, lack of nutrition only makes children and adults more vulnerable to illness. According to the Oxford English Dictionary 1971, hunger is the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food; craving appetite. Also the exhausted condition caused by want of food.

The Facts:

According to the figures, Africa has the highest rates of hunger, with almost one in four people (24.8%) thought to be undernourished.

"In 2010, an estimated 7.6 million children--more than 20,000 a day-- died from hunger."

World hunger isn't just in developing countries, 1 out of every 6 people in the United States goes hungry at some point during the week involuntarily, totaling 49 million people.

The Causes:

Poverty is the main cause of hunger, and hunger is a cause of poverty. The effects of malnutrition not only affect people physically but also their brain functionality. They lose the mental resources to be a productive asset in society or earn money.

By 2050, climate change and erratic weather patterns could have pushed another 24 million children into hunger. Almost half of these children would be in sub-Saharan Africa. (Source: IFPRI, 2009) Natural Disasters leave a dramatic impact on a nations ability to produce and provide for its people. Between droughts, floods, and tropical storms, the weather can be unpredictable and quite devastating. 

Population growth is another leading cause of hunger. As population grows the demand for food increases. Compounded with rising food prices, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to match food production rates with population growth rates. 

War and conflict make it extremely difficult for a community to have a stable food system when it is constantly stressed by violence, crumbling infrastructure, and fleeing refugees. It's no coincidence that many of the world's most conflicted areas are ravaged by hunger. War disrupts agricultural production, and governments often spend more on arms than on social programs.

Are the numbers declining?

The number of people who are chronically undernourished has fallen from an estimated 868 million in 2010-12 to 842 million in 2011-13, according to a UN report. The number of people living with chronic hunger has fallen by 17 percent since 1990–92. (Source: FAO, 2013)

While the number show that world hunger is decreasing, the global population has increased significantly since 1990. We are feeding approximately 1.6 billion people more than we were 20 years ago. 

What you can do to help?
Some people live to eat and others eat to live. Out of the 7 billion (and growing) people in the world, how many do you think have the luxury of living to eat? We may all live in one world but we are separated by our existence. Pumping money into developing countries is not the best way to end hunger, especially in areas with little stability and a lack of infrastructure. The idea that more money equals more development is a very dangerous misconception. So what can we do help end world hunger? There are many international organizations that offer meal packaging events, food drives, fundraisers, and online donation options.  Visit one of the websites below to make a difference today!
ActionAgainstHunger, WhyHunger, StopHungerNow, FreedomFromHunger

Sources:
https://www.dosomething.org/actnow/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-world-hunger
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm
http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3458e/i3458e.pdf
http://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats