MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger

Hunger Facts

Hunger in the United States

49.1 million people lived in food-insecure households in 2008, including 32.4 million adults and 16.7 million children.[1]

17.3 million people lived in households that were considered to have very low food security, up from 11.9 million in 2007 and 8.5 million in 2000.[2] Of these individuals, 12.1 million adults and 5.2 million children lived in households with very low food insecurity.[3]

14.6 percent (17 million) of households were food insecure, up from 11.1 percent (13 million) of households in 2007.[4] One-third of these food insecure households (6.7 million households, or 5.7 percent of all U.S. households) had very low food security, up from 4.7 million (4.1 percent) in 2007.[5] More United States Hunger Facts »

International

Israel

Hunger is on the rise in Israel. Throughout the country, increasing numbers of Israelis are relying on emergency food programs to meet their most basic nutritional needs. 22% of Israeli citizens – approximately 1,100,000 people – are food insecure. Of those Israeli citizens who are food insecure, 60% are Jewish, 20% are Arab, and 20% are new immigrants.

According to the National Insurance Institute, nearly 30% of Israeli children – approximately 690,000 – live below the national poverty line. Over 20% of Israel’s elderly live below the national poverty line.
Download the April 2004 report on poverty and income inequality in Israel by the National Insurance Institute of Israel.

The World

Population: 6,406,000,000 million # of people undernourished: 848,000,000 million (13%) Other Stats:

• In 2005, almost 1.4 billion people lived below the international poverty line, earning less than $1.25 per day.

Developed Countries

Population: 1,264,000,000 million # of people undernourished: 15,000,000 million

Developing World

Population: 5,141,000,000 million # of people undernourished: 907,000,000 million (16%) % in Poverty: Other Stats:

• 907 million people in developing countries alone are hungry.[6]
• Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57% of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers.[7]

More International Hunger Facts »