Sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest percentage of undernourished, has shown little progress in reducing the prevalence of undernourishment in the last 30 years. In contrast, two Asian regions have made significant progress, although in 1969-71 both regions had percentages of undernourished that were higher than sub-Saharan Africa. The situation in Near East and North Africa, and in Latin America and the Caribbean has been rather constant since 1979-81, these two regions having made big reductions in the preceding decade…

At 792 million, the number of undernourished in the developing world in 1996-98 showed little change from the preceding three-year average, and the prevalence of undernourishment in the developing world stagnated at 18 per cent. The changes in the prevalence and absolute numbers of undernourished between the two three year periods are summarized on a sub-regional basis...Only two subregions — East Asia and Southern Africa — actually achieved a reduction in both the percentage as well as the absolute number of undernourished. In seven sub-regions there was an increase in the number of undernourished even though the percentage prevalence level did not rise. Four sub-regions registered a slight worsening in both absolute and prevalence terms. These were Central America, North America (Mexico), the Near East and Central Africa…

The percentage of energy derived from starchy staples (cereals, roots and tubers) provides additional information about the quality of the average diet of a population. A high percentage indicates a relatively poor diet in terms of diversity and a higher likelihood that large numbers of people consuming these poor diets are undernourished in terms of the amount of food they are obtaining, as well as being deficient in many of the micronutrients they need for good health. In terms of income groups, it is the rich that have a varied diet whilst the poor have to survive on less variety.

A satisfactory diet can be had with starchy staples ranging anywhere between 55 to 5 per cent of total dietary energy supply and diet composition can thus vary considerably from season to season and from culture to culture, without detrimental effects on nutritional status. Nevertheless, when starchy staples exceed 70 to 75 per cent of the total DES, there is cause for concern...

Interestingly, there is often an inverse relationship between the adequacy of the overall dietary energy supply...and the diversity of the diet (SOFI, 2001). Poor people, whose dietary intake is inadequate, also have a lower variety of food thus providing less energy and poorer nutrition…

Anthropometric data provide another measure of the extent to which a population has access to and is making good biological use of the food consumed. Malnutrition in children results in poor physical and cognitive development as well as lower resistance to illness. Underweight...among children under 5 is a good indicator of malnutrition in young children. Based on this measure, an estimated 174 million under-five children in the developing world were estimated to be malnourished in 1996-98.

Currently, over two-thirds of the world’s malnourished children live in Asia (especially south Asia), followed by Africa and Latin America. According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that more than half of the young children in south Asia suffer from protein-energy malnutrition, which is about five times the prevalence in the Western hemisphere, at least three times the prevalence in the Middle East and more than twice that of east Asia. Estimates for sub-Saharan Africa indicate that the prevalence there is approximately 30 per cent.