Maternal malnutrition increases the risk for fetal growth retardation, stillbirths, mental retardation, and decreased resistance to disease. One in five babies born in developing countries weighs less than 5.5 pounds. Countries with the highest rates of underweight babies include Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. In 35 countries, one-third of all children under age 5 are stunted or unusually short for their age. Weakened immunity, impaired learning capacity, and for females, increased risk of maternal mortality when they reach the age of childbearing.
Several factors contribute to the problem of hunger in the world today.
Food supplies are distributed unequally, so that the most developed countries in the world are likely to have the largest supplies of food. Food production in many low-income countries is inadequate, and, given their precarious financial situations, these countries can ill afford to import food supplies. Food supply specialists project that current food supplies could support 10 billion people if everyone adopted a vegetarian diet and no food was wasted. Food production is strained by losses of cropland to industrialization in Asia, by increased scarcity of fresh water for irrigation, and by reductions in grain production. Back to top 3.