From Compassion.com
· Thirteen million children are among the 36.3 million people in U.S. households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents more than one in 10 households in the United States (11.2 percent), an increase of 1.4 million, from 34.9 million in 2002.
· Three million children live in the 3.5 percent of U.S. households that experience hunger. Some people in these households frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for a whole day. 9.6 million people, including those children, live in these homes.
· Over 10 million children are part of the 7.7 percent of U.S. households which are at risk of hunger. Members of these households have lower quality diets or must resort to seeking emergency food because they cannot always afford the food they need. 26.6 million people, including 10.3 million children, live in these homes.
· In 2004, requests for emergency food assistance in U.S. cities increased an average of 13 percent.
· Fifty-six percent of those requesting emergency food assistance were members of families with children. Thirty-four percent of adults requesting such assistance were employed. High housing costs, low-paying jobs, unemployment, and the economic downturn led the list of reasons contributing to the rise.
· Over half the cities surveyed in a report for U.S. mayors (56 percent) said they are not able to provide an adequate quantity of food to those in need. And more than two in three cities (67 percent) reported they had to decrease the quantity of food provided and/or the number of times people can come to get food assistance. An average of 20 percent of the demand for emergency food assistance is estimated to have gone unmet in the survey cities, up from 14 percent last year.
· Almost 6.5 million children under five die every year from hunger-related diseases. In fact, hunger-related illnesses kill 12 children every minute of every day.
· At roughly 815 million, the world's undernourished people outnumber the populations of each continent except Asia.
· The financial costs of ending hunger are relatively slight. The basic nutritional needs of the world's poorest children could be met for an additional $19 billion a year. The world's consumers spend $18 billion on makeup alone each year.
· The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has set the minimum requirement for caloric intake per person per day at 2,350. Worldwide, according to the FAO database for 2000, there are 2,805 calories available per person per day.
· Estimates in 2001 indicated that 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day. And 1.1 billion of that number lived on less than $1 a day. Just what can a family buy for $2 per day? Not much.
· They certainly aren't able to get consistent, adequate health care when they need it. Almost 12,000 of the 350,000 babies born each day die within the first month of life, and 98 percent of those deaths occur in developing countries.
