Poverty is the major cause of hunger throughout the world. Many low-income countries do not grow enough food to feed their residents, and cannot afford to import enough food to make up the difference. Within the developing world, an estimated 843 million people, including 200 million children, do not receive enough calories to ensure physical health and development. Millions more people consume the minimum number of calories, but fail to get the necessary protein and essential vitamins and minerals to lead a healthy life. The number of malnourished often swells during times of drought, or when regular networks of food supply are disrupted by natural disaster or political violence.
Famines can occur even when there is plenty of food.
Food was available in many districts, but it was out of reach for large numbers of people who had lost their crops to flooding. With neither the income from their crops to purchase food, nor any food to harvest, these people fell victim to a devastating famine. 4 Rural populations are especially prone to malnourishment and malnutrition because they are more likely to be poor. Although urban poverty is a growing phenomenon in the developing world because of rapid urbanization and other factors, up to 80 percent of extreme poverty is concentrated in rural areas. Health surveys in 19 developing countries in the late 1980s chronicled the lack of access to adequate food in rural areas.