World-wide, the hardest hit by hunger are children. Three-fourths of those who die each year from starvation and related diseases are children. The primary cause of hunger and starvation in the developed nations is poverty. In the rest of the world, the same cause exists, but the problem is more acute. Many more spend all or most of their meagre income on food.
Many millions die each year due to diseases related to malnutrition.
Malnutrition is one of the main consequences of chronic hunger. Loss of food-producing land. Soil erosion is reducing the amount of land available for crop production. Salinization, a result of irrigation, is deminishing soil capacity for crop production. Urbanization, expanding cities spilling over onto adjacent farm land, also permanently removes farm land from the inventory.