Hunger on the rise in Latin America

Food and Agriculture Organization

( FAO ) of the United Nations ( UN ) warned that hunger is on the rise in Latin America .

Last year, about 42.5 million people were starving on the region ( 6.6% of the population) did not have food to meet their daily caloric needs, representing an increase of 2.4 million people .

“It will be very difficult for the region to reach Sustainable Development Goal 2 on eradicating hunger and malnutrition by 2030”, said Julio Berdegué , FAO Regional Representative during the presentation of the Panorama of Food Security and Nutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean 2017 .

South America

, one of the richest regions in food production, suffered the largest increase in undernourishment, from 5% to 5.6% while in the Caribbean hunger still has the highest rate of the region with 17.7% .

Undernourishment and starvation in the region "are mainly related to economic decline, rising unemployment rates, low minimum wage and the deterioration of social security," FAO Director-General José Graziano explained in the presentation.

Regarding specific countries, the worst situation is presented by Haiti , where almost 47% of its population suffers from starvation representing about 5 million people , while Venezuela is the country with the highest undernourishment increase from 2.8 million in 2015 to 4.1 million .

On the bright side, Colombia reduced the number of people starving in the country from 3.7 million to 3.4 million in the same period.

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