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Yes, 1.02 billion people hungry in the world

In a world so full of riches - that is, those lucky enough to be in the "right" countries and able to share the spoils - and which spends staggering sums in military hardware and on wars [think Iraq and Afghanistan], it is startling to read that 1.2 billion people have been hungry this year.

The NY Times reports in "Experts Worry as Population and Hunger Grow":

"Scientists and development experts across the globe are racing to increase food production by 50 percent over the next two decades to feed the world’s growing population, yet many doubt their chances despite a broad consensus that enough land, water and expertise exist.

The number of hungry people in the world rose to 1.02 billion this year, or nearly one in seven people, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, despite a 12-year concentrated effort to cut the number.

The global financial recession added at least 100 million people by depriving them of the means to buy enough food, but the numbers were inching up even before the crisis, the United Nations noted in a report last week."

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