World Hunger Facts
• Every five seconds a child dies because she or he is hungry
• Malnourishment in children under the age 18 affects an estimated 350 to 400 million children
• More than 70 percent of the world’s 146 million underweight children under age five years live in just 10 countries, with more than 50 per cent located in South Asia alone
• 10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths
• The cost of malnourishment to national economic development is estimated at US $20-30 billion per annum
• One out of four children - roughly 146 million - in developing countries are underweight
• It is estimated that 684,000 child deaths worldwide could be prevented by increasing access to vitamin A and zinc.
• Almost five million children die from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea and measles every year.
• Lack of Vitamin A kills a million infants a year.
• Iron deficiency is the most common form of malnutrition, affecting 180 million children aged under four.
• Iron deficiency is impairing the mental development of 40-60 percent of children in developing countries.
• Lack of vitamin A weakens the immune system of 40 percent of children under five in poor countries and can cause blindness.
• Iodine deficiency is the main cause of brain damage in the early years of a child's life.