World hunger on the rise, says UN

The number of people without enough food is growing (Komkrit Suwanwela/123rf)

A new study by the United Nations has found that world hunger is on the rise.

Nearly 800 million people are undernourished while more than two billion lack access to healthy food, according to the U.N.'s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019 report.

It's the third straight year that the number of people without enough food to eat has grown, with hundreds of millions of children are not getting the nutrition they need and one-in-seven babies being born with low birthweight.

Hunger was found to be on the rise in most of Africa and parts of the Middle East, as well as in areas of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Obesity, which is related to malnutrition, was also found to be increasing around the world, affecting 338 million school-age children and 672 million adults.

For the first time, the report included those suffering from "moderate food insecurity", which can cause people to reduce the quality or quantity of what they eat due to lack of money or other resources, leading to obesity as well as stunting.

More than a quarter of the world's population now struggles to eat "safe, nutritious and sufficient food", including around one-in-ten people in Europe and North America.

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