In 25 years the proportion of undernourished people around the world has been reduced by nearly half, but millions still don't get to eat their fill.

The fight to free people from hunger

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In 1990, more than one billion people  were suffering from hunger.

Has the situation improved  in the past 25 years?

Yes, a little, but a lot still needs to be done.

The target of the United Nations  in 1990 was

to halve the proportion of undernourished  people around the world in 25 years.

Even if the goal has  almost been reached –

in 1992, 23% of the global population was  undernourished against 14% in 2013 –

still, the number of people suffering  from hunger is declining too slowly.

The explanation for this is that while  the proportion of undernourished people

has decreased, the world population  has grown by two billion in 20 years.

In the end, there were still 842 million -  or one in eight people -

But if the United Nations,  donor countries, the European Union

and other, non-governmental organisations  had done nothing,

So let’s allow some cautious optimism:

What has worked well  and in which regions?

In Yemen, in the Arabian Peninsula,  for example:

There the United Nations programme  provides rations of wheat and vegetable oil

to families that  send their daughters to school.

As a result, within a few years more than  200,000 girls have been enrolled in school

and more than one million people  have been able to eat their fill.

wintertime agricultural projects  are helping to save people from hunger.

An irrigation project enables farmers  to improve their farming practices.

They also receive training  in better seed systems.

the sharp rise in food prices slowed  down the fight against undernourishment.

This was partly due to speculation,  which is why the Parliament successfully

fought to bring into force  the directive MiFID 2.

This law reduces commodity speculation  on European stock markets.

The EU and its Member States are the  largest providers of development aid funds.

In 2012,  they provided 55 billion euros in aid.

60 million people worldwide  have already benefited from EU food aid.

Even in Europe, nearly a quarter of  the population doesn't get enough to eat.

That’s why the Parliament obtained an  extension for food aid within the EU itself.

Between 2014 and 2020,  3.5 billion euros will be allocated

to the fight against hunger  and social exclusion.