The hunger quiz - answers

It is estimated that over 800 million people are hungry around the world.

2. Hunger is not a problem in wealthy countries like America and England?

False

Hunger exists all over the world, including wealthy countries like America and England. However, the majority of hungry people live in developing countries and earn less than $1 a day.

3. Which 2 regions of the world have the most hungry people?

b. South Asia
c. Sub-Saharan Africa

Over 314 million of the world’s hungry live in South Asia, which is comprised of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and over 200 million live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

4. Hungry/malnourished people are always thin and easy to identify?

False

People’s bodies sometimes swell up as a result of hunger and malnutrition, so they are not always easy to identify. This swelling is an illusion resulting from water retention and actually masks severe loss of body weight.

5. Hunger affects the young and old, men and women and boys and girls equally?

False

The vast majority (75%) of the 24,000 people that die every day because of hunger, or diseases related to hunger and malnutrition, are boys and girls under 5, the elderly and women.

6. People are hungry because there isn’t enough food in the world?

False

The world produces enough food for everyone. The problem is that many people do not have access to the resources to produce or purchase food. Access and not quantity is the problem.

7. Overpopulation is the main cause of hunger?

False

Contrary to popular belief, overpopulation is not the root cause of hunger. It is usually the other way around: hunger is one of the real causes of overpopulation. The more children a poor family has, the more likely some will survive to work in the fields or in the city to add to the family's small income and, later, to care for the parents in their old age.

8. Hunger related deaths are primarily due to:

b. Poverty

Hunger resulting from famine and natural disasters tends to be very well publicised but in fact only accounts for a small portion (8%) of the hunger problem in the world. Primarily, hunger results from poverty and resultant chronic hunger. Chronic hunger results from people lacking the resources to purchase or grow their own food, or the food they eat lacks sufficient nutritional value.

9. Is giving hungry and malnourished people food to eat the solution to ending hunger in the long-term?

False

Providing food to people who are hungry and malnourished is an important element of Concern’s work. However, we recognize that this solely is not the solution to ending world hunger.

Increasing people’s access to food by enabling them to produce or buy enough food is also important, as is pushing for changes in policies regarding trade, aid and debt.

The MakePovertyHistory campaign is a good example of the latter.

10. There is not much one person can do to help end hunger in the world.

False

Each and every one of us can make a difference. Fundraising for FoodAid is a great start but see the "What can we do about hunger" factsheet for more ideas.