At close to one billion, the number of undernourished people in the world remains unacceptably high in 2010 despite an expected decline - the first in 15 years. This decline is largely attributable to a more favourable economic environment in 2010 - particularly in developing countries – and the fall in both international and domestic food prices since 2008. The recent increase in food prices, if it persists, will create additional obstacles in the fight to further reduce hunger.

Most of the world’s hungry live in developing countries, where they account for 16 percent of the population. While this figure marks an improvement compared to 2009, it is still well above the target set by the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 of halving the proportion of undernourished people in developing countries from 20 percent in 1990-92 to 10 percent in 2015.