While World Hunger rates are on the rise, one positive takeaway is that the world has gotten better at containing famines. Famine is defined by a situation in which a region or population has extreme inadequacy in terms of access to food or nutrition. Let’s take a look at the history of famines around the world.
The deadliest famine ever recorded took place between 1959 and 1961 in China. This devastating famine was actually a man-made disaster caused by a combination of political and social factors and took tens of millions of lives. New policies that prohibited farm ownership as well as the redirection of labor from the agricultural industry to the iron and steel industries are the main causes of the famine. Experts agree that the death toll of this famine is between 20 and 50 million, and this event shows that natural disasters and extreme weather conditions are not the only contributors to famines.
One of the more famous and well-known famines throughout history is the Irish Potato Famine which lasted from 1845 to 1853. Also known as The Great Hunger, this famine was caused by a mold that ruined one-half to three-quarters of the crop yield in Ireland and resulted in the deaths of roughly 1 million people and caused another million to leave their homeland as refugees.
While the world is experiencing fewer famines than the 19th and 20th century, the risk of these events is still a reality in many countries. For example, a famine was declared in Sudan in 2017 with 60% of the population requiring humanitarian assistance. A conflict between Saudi-led coalition soldiers and Houthi rebels has led to increasing food insecurity in Yemen. Somalia has also experienced increasing food insecurity numbers as a result of environmental factors. Economic hardships in Venezuela are leaving people without access to food as well. While humans are much better at containing and preventing deaths due to famine, this issue is still prevalent and continues to be a cause of hunger and food insecurity around the world.
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