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In 2009, the number of hungry people in the world reached one billion for the first time. It is difficult not to be shocked by the fact that more than one in seven people on the planet do not have enough to eat. 1． Hunger kills more people per year than AIDS and malaria (疟疾) combined.

The UN estimates that almost two-thirds of the world’s hungry people are in Asia, which is of course the world’s most populous continent. 2． Although this region has a much lower population than Asia, it has the highest percentage of hungry people. Almost all of the rest are in Latin America, North Africa and the Caribbean. In the richest regions of the world there are only a small number of people who don’t have enough to eat.

3． They include wars, droughts, floods and the overuse of farming land. All of them affect food production. But the most important reason is, quite simple, poverty — which has increased recently due to the economic effects of the financial crisis of 2008.

Although many people point out that there would be less hunger if the global population were smaller, few people would argue that there is not enough food to go around. The basic problem seems to be not a lack of food, but its distribution.In the last 50 years, global food production has risen even more quickly than the global population and there are of course many areas of the world where people generally have more than enough food. 4． The answer to world hunger, therefore,may be a balanced food distribution around the whole world. Everyone will have enough to eat, but not overeat.