In spite of the fact that food production in developing
countries doubled over the last 25 years undernutrition is still widely
spread. At the beginning of the eighties, according to FAO, 335 to 494
million people in developing countries suffered from serious
undernutrition the difference being due to different concepts to
determine undernutrition on which scientist were unable to find a
consensus.) Unfortunately there is no recent comprehensive analysis of
the food situation comparable to those of previous World Food Surveys
but it can be taken for sure that the absolute number of undernourished
has increased. According to unofficial FAO sources a figure of 870
million was estimated for 1990 (22 percent of the total population in
developing countries) using the same concept that led to the figure of
494 million in 1979-81 (23 percent of the total population in developing
countries) which means that most probably the number of undernourished
increased at a rate slightly less than population growth.
