The number of children who die from world hunger every day is hugely underestimated, a new survey reveals.
A poll carried out on behalf of Mary’s Meals found that over half of people thought 2,000 children died every day. In reality, that figure stands at over 18,000, according to the United Nations.
Results from the survey show that the vast majority of people know that hunger is the world’s top health risk and they correctly identified that there is enough food in the world to feed everyone.
However, most people were unaware that more people go hungry in Asia than in any other continent, with one in eight people believing that Africa is home to most hungry people in the world.
Mary’s Meals is addressing the problems surrounding hunger in Asia by working hard to provide feeding programmes across the region, particularly in India where we are reaching out to some of the poorest and most isolated people.
Half of people polled also underestimated the scale of world hunger and did not realise the populations of the USA, Canada and the EU put together was equal to the number of hungry children in the world.
When presented with options around how much it costs to feed a child for a whole school year, over half thought it would cost over £50 with around a third believing the cost would be more than £250 a year. It costs Mary’s Meals just £10.70 to feed a child for a whole school year.
Mary’s Meals feeds 650,000 children in 16 countries across the world including Malawi, Liberia, Kenya and Haiti. Where Mary’s Meals is provided, there is a rise in rates of enrolment, attendance and academic performance.
Commenting on the survey results, Mary’s Meals chief executive, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, said: “It is worrying that the true scale of global hunger and its effects are being underestimated to such an extent. But all over the world, there are people who will not accept that any child in this world of plenty must endure a day without a meal.”
“As a result of their good deeds, thousands of children, who would otherwise be hungry and working for their next meal, are instead sitting in a classroom with a full stomach, learning how to read and write.”
“These are the children who can one day become the men and women who will lift their communities out of poverty and end their reliance on aid.”
The survey was carried out on behalf of Mary’s Meals in collaboration with the Orange ‘Do Some Good’ app.
The Do Some Good app, available at the Apple App Store, allows people to volunteer for a charity by donating as little as five minutes of their time via their mobile phones and tablet devices.
