As many as 800 million people in the world suffer from chronic malnutrition-that's 24 times the population of Canada.

Why is there so much hunger?   

Myth 1: There Is Not Enough Food To Go Around
Facts: Enough food is available to provide at least four pounds of food to every person on this planet every day. That's enough food to make most people fat! The problem is that many people don't have access to the resources to produce or purchase food.

As people without access to resources struggle to survive, they are often forced to farm marginal lands that are susceptible to erosion, flooding, or drought.

Myth 2: There Are Too Many People
Facts: Globally, population growth is slowing. Although rapid population growth remains a serious concern in some countries, population density does not lead to hunger.

Hunger results from underlying inequities that deprive people of economic opportunity and security.

Myth 3: Nature Is To Blame
Facts: Food is always available for those who can afford it. Starvation during hard times hits only the poorest people living on the brink of disaster because they are deprived of land, trapped in debt, or are poorly paid.

Natural events rarely explain deaths; they are simply the final straw. The blame falls on governments that fail to offer their citizens employment opportunities and on societies that accept hunger as inevitable.

Myth 4: The Free Market Can End Hunger
Facts: Unfortunately, market efficiencies only work to eliminate hunger when purchasing power is widely dispersed.

We must concentrate on promoting not only the market but also the ability of people to participate in the market in ways that reduce poverty.

End World Hunger
World hunger can be ended. The outcome of the war on hunger is determined not by forces beyond human control but by decisions and actions well within the capability of nations and people.

World Vision is working to end poverty in the following ways:

• World Vision Canada provided seeds and agricultural tools to more than 100,000 families living in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East last year.
• In a crisis situation, World Vision partners with the World Food Programme to distribute food to hungry people. Last year, World Vison distributed 693,000 metric tonnes of food to 11 million people in 36 countries around the world.
• Child Sponsorship provides agricultural training to children, families, and communities.

You can take action to end poverty too:

• Do the 30 Hour Famine. Click here to learn more.
• Buy fair-trade products. Click here to take our ethical shopping quiz.
• Donate to World Vision's seeds and tools program. Click here to donate. 
• Sponsor a child. Click here to sponsor a child now.

Based on "World Hunger: Twelve Myths, 2nd Edition," by Frances Moore Lappé, Joseph Collins and Peter Rosset (Grove Press/Earthscan, 1998).