THE NOURISHING EFFECT

CHAPTER 3
Most remarkable of all, the goal
was achieved five years ahead of
schedule. By 2011, the extreme
poverty rate had dropped still further,
to 14.2 percent. 3
Most of the progress in reducing
the global poverty rate has been
made since 2000. 4 While people
may disagree over how much the
MDGs drove this progress, there
is no denying that they made a difference.
Otherwise, governments
would have been less inclined to
negotiate goals to succeed the
MDGs. In fact, the new Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs)
have been the focus of spirited
debate for the past couple of years
and, at this writing, are on the
eve of being adopted by the U.N.
member states. The effort to reach
the SDGs will last until 2030.
One target is to eradicate extreme
poverty. If this can be done--particularly
in just 15 years—it will be
one of the greatest feats in human
history.
MDG 1 also called for reducing
hunger by half. Though perhaps
not as remarkable as the progress
Figure 3.1
Millions
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
Progress on Ending Hunger Has Been Significant
Despite the Challenging Global Environment
Number and Proportion of Undernourished People in the
Developing Regions, From 1990-1992 to 2014-2016
Source: United Nations (2015), The Millennium Development Goals Report.
against poverty, the reduction in hunger is impressive in its own right. According to the best
estimate of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the world
is less than two percentage points away from reaching the MDG target. 5 The percentage of
people in the developing world who are undernourished, what we would describe as hungry,
has fallen from 23.3 percent in 1990 to 12.9 percent in 2015. 6 See Figure 3.1. The hunger rate
23.3
991
1990-92
22.1
991
1993-95
1996-98
19.7
18.3 18.3 17.3
926 902
1999-01
Left axis: number of
undernourished people
2002-04
940 927
2005-07
15.0
843
2008-10
13.7
2011-13
12.9
793 780
Percentage
2014-16
(projection)
Right axis: proportion
of undernourished people
25
20
15
10
5
0
In 2015, 91 percent of the world’s
population had access to an
improved drinking-water source.
Globally, 2.6 billion people
gained access to an improved
drinking water source since 1990. 3
By 2035, 40-50 million
new health care workers
will need to be trained and
deployed to meet the
need for health services. 4
WWW.HUNGERREPORT.ORG • 2016 HUNGER REPORT 111