News

Hunger still most prevalent in Africa despite UN Millennium Development Goals – Global study

Africa home to 22 out of 26 'extreme risk' populations - South Asia at 'high risk'

22/09/2010

As the leaders of the world meet to discuss the progress of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new study evaluating global hunger, one of the top priorities of the MDGs, has categorised 26 countries as extreme risk - 22 of which are found in Africa.

The Hunger Index, produced by global risks analysis firm, Maplecroft, explores the prevalence of undernourishment in 172 countries by analysing the proportion of people in a population whose food intake is chronically insufficient to meet their minimum energy requirements.

The 10 countries considered at most risk are DR Congo (1), Eritrea (2), Burundi (3), Haiti (4), Comoros (5), Sierra Leone (6), Zambia (7), Ethiopia (8), Angola (9) and the Central African Republic (10).

Hunger Index 2010

Legend
Extreme risk
High risk
Medium risk
Low risk
No Data

Rank	Country	Rating
1	DR Congo	Extreme
2	Eritrea	Extreme
3	Burundi	Extreme
4	Haiti	Extreme
5	Comoros	Extreme

Rank	Country	Rating
6	Sierra Leone	Extreme
7	Zambia	Extreme
8	Ethiopia	Extreme
9	Angola	Extreme
10	C.A.R	Extreme

© Maplecroft 2010

Africa, home to some of the world's poorest countries, has the highest prevalence of undernourishment with 22 countries in the 'extreme risk' category. Countries in central, western and eastern Africa are particularly vulnerable. In East Africa the lack of rainfall in the last 3-6 years has led to crop failure and the depletion of livestock herds; in Southern Africa, despite good rainfall, more than three million people remain short of food, in part because of the impacts of HIV/AIDS and poor governance; whilst in West Africa 8 million people are facing food shortages, caused by the impacts of chronic poverty, erratic rains and locusts. Poor countries are particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in food prices, which are set to rise due to a number of factors, including a Russian ban on wheat exports and a reduction in Canada's harvest by almost a quarter due to flooding.

The non-African countries in the highest risk category are Haiti (4), North Korea (19), Yemen (20) and Mongolia (24). The emerging economies of South Asia also have very high levels of undernourishment, with Bangladesh (29), Pakistan (34) and India (40) all rated as 'high risk.' Although there is enough food in these regions to feed the entire population, problems stem from inequality of income distribution and poor natural resource management. Rapidly growing populations and economies have also led to uneven income distribution and an escalating demand for food.

The Hunger Index is developed by Maplecroft to assess the relative risks to businesses with global supply chains, operations and investments. "Part of the first MDG is a commitment to reduce hunger by half by 2015. It is in the interests of companies to play a significant role in this goal by sustaining healthy communities, reducing poverty and preventing hunger," said Fiona Place, Environmental Analyst at Maplecroft. "Hunger affects the creation of a productive workforce capable of generating high value outputs, and causes significant losses in national economic productivity."

For more information and pricing details contact Maplecroft at info@maplecroft.com or call +44 (0)1225 420000.

Register for trial access to see examples of Maplecroft's indices, interactive maps, scorecards, briefings and in-depth reports.