3 December 2014

One year before the deadline, about half of the so-called ‘developing countries’ have achieved their Millennium Development Goal on hunger

On 30 November of this year, FAO organized an award ceremony for ‘‘recognizing  outstanding progress in fighting hunger’’ made in 13 countries:

1. •10 countries that reached the first Millennium Development Target of reducing by half the proportion of undernourished in their total population: Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Iran, Kiribati, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico and the Philippines
   

2. •Three countries that achieved the more stringent target of the World Food Summit of reducing by half the number of undernourished: Brazil, Cameroon and Uruguay.
   

These 13 countries add their names to the list of 38 countries whose achievements had already been recognised by FAO in 2013, of which 18 have also achieved the World Food Summit target.

A rapid analysis of performance of countries, since 1990-92, shows that out of a total of 120 so-called ‘developing countries’:

1. •63 countries have now achieved the MGD target, with a total decrease by 307 million of the number of chronically undernourished people (-50%)
   

2. •25 countries have now achieved the more stringent WFS target, with a total decrease by 105 million of the number of chronically undernourished people (-76%)
   

3. •57 countries did not achieve their targets of decreasing the number of chronically undernourished people, this number actually increasing by 104 million (+27%)
   

Evolution of the number of undernourished by category of countries

It is certainly good that FAO acknowledges those countries that fulfill their commitments, although one may wonder why fulfilling a commitment should be qualified as something ‘‘outstanding’’. Yes, it is very sad that in the 21st Century for a country to respect a commitment should be qualified as something outstanding! Of course, the world is full of examples of countries who commit to something and then do not respect their commitment. In fact there are 57 countries among those whose food security situation is being monitored by FAO who have so far not yet achieved their hunger reduction targets. A part of those countries can still achieve the MDG target by next year, but in total, these countries have seen, as is clear from the statistics and the above graph, their number of undernourished people increasing since 1990-92!

At hungerexplained.org, we believe that there is probably a much stronger case to expose those countries that do not respect their commitments against hunger than to say that fulfilling them is something exceptional. In fact we believe that those leaders who do not all that is possible to eradicate hunger should be put in front of their responsibilities [read].

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List of countries who have already achieved the MDG target:

1. 1. Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa, Togo, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, China, Republic of Korea, Bangladesh, Iran, Maldives, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, San Vincent and the Grenadines, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Fiji, Kiribati and Samoa.
      

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List of countries who have already achieved the WFS target:

1. 1. Cameroon, Djibouti, Ghana, Mali, Sao Tome and Principe, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia,  Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam,  Kuwait, Cuba, San Vincent and the Grenadines, Brazil, Chile, Guyana, Nicaragua,  Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and Samoa.
      

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To know more:

Facts and figures on world hunger

Last update:    December 2014

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