Chronic hunger – measured by the proportion of people lacking the food needed to meet their daily needs – has declined in the developing world. But progress overall is not fast enough to reduce the number of people going hungry, which increased between 1995-1997 and 2001-2003. An estimated 824 million people in the developing world were affected by chronic hunger in 2003.

The worst-affected regions – sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia – have made progress in recent years. But their advances have not kept pace with those of the early 1990s, and the number of people going hungry is increasing. Of particular concern is Eastern Asia: in the early 1990s, the number of hungry people declined; but again it is on the rise.