1. Food Security
"There is adequate food for all of Earth’s people, and yet not all people have enough to eat. "

2. What is Food Security?
Food security means consistently having enough to eat.
It should be possible for all of Earth’s people and yet 2 billion people around the world, including some people in your country, are not food secure.
About 18 million worldwide, mostly children, die each year from insufficient food.

3. Quick Facts
842 million people in the world do not have enough to eat. This number has fallen by 17% since 1990.
The vast majority of hungry people (827 million) live in developing countries.
One out of six children – roughly 100 million – in developing countries is underweight.
Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five million children each year.
If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million.
Poverty, lack of investment in agriculture, natural disasters, soil degradation and food wastage contribute to food insecurity.
There is enough food in the world for everyone to have enough to eat, but it is unevenly distributed.

4. Did You Know?
If the world were a village of 100, only 24 of the people would always have enough to eat.
Food security can be for long or short periods of time.
Long periods of food insecurity is common among small-scale farmers who cannot grow enough food to feed their families on an ongoing basis.
Short term food insecurity can be brought on by disasters such as floods, by wars.
As of 2006, worldwide, there are more people who are overweight than there are people who are malnourished.
Food security is not just a problem in the developing world. In the United States, 14.6 percent of all households have been food insecure at least sometime in the year.

5. The Issue Why don’t all countries have the same access to food?
Some countries have climates, soil and agricultural practices that allow them to produce enough food.
Other countries do not have these advantages. And there are other problems.
In some countries, farmers cannot afford to own their own land, but must pay rent to the landowner, which they cannot pay for.
Farmers may not have the correct crop insurance, farm tools and access to markets where they can sell their crops for a fair price.
These farmers and their families struggle everyday day to survive.
Any disaster, such as a drought, can push them over the edge and effect their food security.

6. Why is Food Security Important?
Basic food security provides people with the nutrition they need to be healthy and active.
It means they do not always have to struggle and that not all of their money/resources go towards food.
If families have food security, they can buy other essentials, such as education and health care, further improving their chances.
So food security is linked to economic well-being.