The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006

Ten years ago, world leaders met in Rome for the World Food Summit (WFS) to discuss ways to end hunger. They pledged their commitment to an ongoing effort to eradicate hunger in all countries and set
themselves the immediate target of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015. To this purpose, they approved the World Food Summit Plan of Action. In October 2006, FAO’s Committee on World Food Security is undertaking an assessment of the implementation of the Plan of Action and a mid-term review of progress towards achieving the target. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006 reviews progress and setbacks in hunger reduction since 1990–92, the established baseline period.
The first section of the report, Undernourishment around the world, reviews trends in hunger at the global, regional and subregional levels. It also presents FAO’s most recent projections of undernourishment in 2015.
The second section, Undernourishment in the regions, reviews the food security situation in each of the major developing regions and the transition countries. The third section, Towards the Summit commitments, summarizes lessons from past experience in hunger reduction and presents FAO’s current thinking on how to accelerate progress towards meeting the WFS target. Two tables (pp. 32–38) provide detailed information on levels of undernourishment in developing and transition countries and other indicators relevant to food security. The report also includes maps (page 31) illustrating the global food security situation and progress in hunger reduction.