Number of People Hungry in the World Drops to 1 in 8: UN

A recent report from the United Nations shows that the number of individuals in the world who go hungry has dropped to one in eight people. However, undernourishment still remains a significant problem in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asian, according to a statement the UN's food agency made Tuesday. 

The report shows that at the global level, 842 million people or roughly 12 percent of the world's population did and do not have enough food or water to actively live a healthy life from the period of 2011 to 2013. This number was down from 868 million when reported from 2010 to 2012.

"Around one in eight people in the world were estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger" in the period 2011 to 2013, the Rome-based Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said in report on food insecurity in the world. "Africa remains the region with the highest prevalence of undernourishment, with more than one in five people estimated to be undernourished."

Though overall progress is definitely something to celebrate, the differences across various regions still persist and show marked causes for concern.

For instance, Sub-Saharan Africa fares worst on the hunger scale. However, the report shows that in the last two decades, hunger has declined from 32.7 percent to 24.8 percent.

And unfortunately, Southern Asia and Northern Africa have shown very little progress, according to the report.

For instance, Western Asia showed no progress in tackling any issues regarding undernourishment, with fewer people going hungry there than in other parts of the region. The other level of undernourishment has steadily risen since 1990.

However, the FAO notes that there have been significant reductions in the estimated number of people going hungry in both Latin America and Eastern Asia.

Yet the most rapid progress was recorded in South-Eastern Asian, where since 1990, the number of hungry people has dropped from 31.1 to 10.7 percent.