Countries in which people are ready to give everything for a piece of bread

Can you imagine that right now there are more than 870 million starving people in the world? And it's not about those who do not have time for lunch and they have to wait for the evening. We are talking about people who are already used to living with a sense of hunger.

According to the World Food Program, 98% of these 870 million live in developing countries. But why does this happen?

Today we will examine the top 10 most affected countries and see what caused the hunger of their population.

1. Burundi

It is estimated that 73.4% of the population suffers from malnutrition. Burundi is a continental country, which means that its economic growth is on average 6 per cent less than in countries that have access to the sea. This is mainly due to the cost of transporting the products of import and export.

The population of Burundi is 9.85 million people, and more than half of them live below the poverty line. In addition, 35% of the population can not find a job. The main problem of the country lies not in the fact that it can not produce food. The main causes of hunger are overpopulation, soil erosion, climate change, high food prices and the ongoing civil war, which has forced the country to import more than it exports. In addition, the subsistence farming in Burundi was reduced by 25%.

The current economic and political situation in Burundi makes it clear that poverty itself does not cause hunger, as many external factors contribute to this.

2. Eritrea

In this country, 65.4% of the population regularly suffer from malnutrition. Eritrea is located in the Horn of Africa. In recent years, the country experienced a significant economic growth, but, unfortunately, the effect of this did not improve the position of the majority of citizens.

In 2004, about 80 percent of the population was employed in agriculture. This sector has been improved through the use of modern agricultural equipment and machinery, but it is still under threat due to lack of financial services and investments.

Eritrea has another big problem: because of the war with Ethiopia, almost a quarter of the country's most productive land remains unused.

3. Comoros

Here, according to estimates, 70% of the population are struggling with hunger. The country consists of three small islands off the coast of Mozambique, and its population is only 800 thousand people. About half of the population are poor people who do not have the opportunity to provide themselves with food.

The reasons for such a large number of poor people, and with it hunger, are diverse. One of the biggest problems is that, despite the large number of young people in the agricultural sector, their level of education is very low, which means that innovation and economic growth can not be expected.

4. East Timor

The country is undernourished by 38% of the population, which is just over 1 million. This small island continues to suffer from the consequences of a long struggle for independence against the Indonesian occupation, which has severely damaged the country's infrastructure.

Private sector development lags behind lack of human resources, weak infrastructure, imperfect legal system and inefficient leadership. Because of this, almost half of the population suffers from malnutrition, especially in the "hungry season" from November to March, when old stocks end, and new crops are not yet harvested.

5. Sudan

About 25% of the Sudanese population is undernourished, and every day such people become more and more. Hunger in the country can be explained by a number of problems. For most of its history, people have suffered from the rampage of ethnic strife and internal conflicts, including two civil wars and wars in the Darfur region.

Sudan did not have any luck, and with climatic conditions, which can be called extreme, and this, unfortunately, can not be controlled.

6. Chad

In the country, 33.4% of the population suffer from hunger. Poverty in Chad is exacerbated by numerous conflicts that continue throughout the 50 years of the country's independence. Tensions between northern and southern ethnic groups also contribute to political and economic instability, and the lack of access to the sea and the desert climate hamper economic development. From the chronic food shortage, the Sahelian zone (Central and Eastern Chad) is particularly affected. In addition, the country was affected by the crisis of neighboring Sudan and the Central African Republic. According to the data, 330,000 refugees have already appeared in the country, which puts additional pressure on the limited resources of a very vulnerable local population.

7. The Republic of Yemen

The country's food security has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. Now 32.4% of the population are struggling with hunger. The causes of this situation were civil conflicts, political instability, high food prices, endemic poverty, and the influx of refugees and migrants.

8. Ethiopia

Hunger statistics in Ethiopia are very disturbing - 40.2% of the population. Due to the 2011 drought, 4.5 million people in the country needed food aid. The regions in the south and south-east of Ethiopia, where livestock were bred, were most severely affected by drought. At the same time, grain markets have experienced a deficit, resulting in prices for food significantly increased. By early 2012, the situation with food security in general has stabilized thanks to the beginning of the harvest season. Although the number of new arrivals to the refugee camp has dropped significantly since the crisis, Ethiopia continues to receive people from Somalia, the Sudan and southern Sudan.