{"id":1208023,"name":"Prevalence of undernourishment in developing countries","unit":"%","createdAt":"2026-03-10T10:33:52.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-07T15:34:54.000Z","coverage":"","timespan":"1970-2015","datasetId":7746,"shortUnit":"%","columnOrder":0,"shortName":"prevalence_of_undernourishment_in_developing_countries__fao__food_security_indicators__2017","catalogPath":"grapher/food/2017-05-23/prevalence_of_undernourishment_in_developing_countries__fao__food_security_indicators__2017/prevalence_of_undernourishment_in_developing_countries__fao__food_security_indicators__2017#prevalence_of_undernourishment_in_developing_countries__fao__food_security_indicators__2017","descriptionShort":"Share of people in developing countries whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy required to maintain a normal, active and healthy life.","descriptionProcessing":"The figures for 1970 and 1980 have been taken as the average between two FAO estimates from the annual \"State of Food Insecurity in the World\" reports of 2006 and 2010. All other years are from FAO's Food Security Indicators.","type":"float","dataChecksum":"17184477391579276222","metadataChecksum":"-4417630867230392130","datasetName":"Prevalence of Undernourishment in Developing Countries - FAO (Food Security Indicators) (2017)","updatePeriodDays":0,"datasetVersion":"2017-05-23","nonRedistributable":false,"display":{"unit":"%","shortUnit":"%"},"schemaVersion":2,"presentation":{"topicTagsLinks":["Hunger & Undernourishment"]},"descriptionKey":["Undernourishment is solely determined by the sufficiency of energy (calorie) intake. It does not consider the quality or diversity of someone's diet.","The FAO maintained a constant definition of \"developing countries\" throughout the data series, with the following definition: \"Includes all countries other than developed countries, namely: all countries in Africa except South Africa, all countries in Asia except Israel and Japan, all countries in Oceania except Australia and New Zealand, and all countries in North and Central America except Canada and USA, and all countries in South America.\"","FAO has adapted its methodology for estimating undernourishment and no longer updates this long-term series from the 1970s.","Figures for 1970 and 1980 are the average between two FAO estimates from annual \"State of Food Insecurity in the World\" reports in 2006 and 2010. Therefore, these estimates should be interpreted cautiously but have been included for a longer-term perspective on reduction trends."],"dimensions":{"years":{"values":[{"id":1970},{"id":1980},{"id":1991},{"id":1992},{"id":1993},{"id":1994},{"id":1995},{"id":1996},{"id":1997},{"id":1998},{"id":1999},{"id":2000},{"id":2001},{"id":2002},{"id":2003},{"id":2004},{"id":2005},{"id":2006},{"id":2007},{"id":2008},{"id":2009},{"id":2010},{"id":2011},{"id":2012},{"id":2013},{"id":2014},{"id":2015}]},"entities":{"values":[{"id":5406,"name":"Developing countries","code":null}]}},"origins":[{"id":15673,"titleSnapshot":"Food Security Indicators - Prevalence of undernourishment in developing countries","title":"Food Security Indicators","descriptionSnapshot":"The prevalence of undernourishment expresses the probability that a randomly selected individual from the population consumes an amount of calories that is insufficient to cover her/his energy requirement for an active and healthy life. The indicator is computed by comparing a probability distribution of habitual daily dietary energy consumption with a threshold level called the minimum dietary energy requirement. Both are based on the notion of an average individual in the reference population.\n\nThis is the traditional FAO hunger indicator, adopted as official Millennium Development Goal indicator for Goal 1, Target 1.9.\n\nThe indicator is calculated in three year averages, from 1969-71 to 2014-16 to reduce the impact of possible errors in estimated DES, due to the difficulties in properly accounting of stock variations in major food.\n\nThe FAO has maintained a constant definition of \"developing countries\" throughout the data series, with the following definition: \"Includes all countries other than developed countries, namely: all countries in Africa except South Africa, all countries in Asia except Israel and Japan, all countries in Oceania except Australia and New Zealand, and all countries in North and Central America except Canada and USA, and all countries in South America.\"\n\nThe aggregates are computed using a weighted population average.\n\nEarlier estimates of the prevalence of undernourishment in developing countries are also given for 1970 and 1980. Over this period, the methods for estimating undernourishment have been refined for use in tracking progress on the MDGs from 1990 onwards; this means the earlier estimates have a higher level of uncertainty. The figures given here for 1970 and 1980 have been taken as the average between two FAO estimates from the annual \"State of Food Insecurity in the World\" reports of 2006 and 2010 (referenced below). These estimates should therefore be used with caution, but have been included for a longer-term perspective on reduction trends.\n\nReferences:\n\nFAO. 2006. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006. Rome. Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0750e/a0750e00.htm\n\nFAO, 2010. The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises. Rome. Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e.pdf","producer":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations","citationFull":"Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2017). Food Security Indicators.\n\nThe estimates for 1970 and 1980 are the average of two figures published in:\n\n- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2006). The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006. Rome.\n- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2010). The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises. Rome.","attributionShort":"FAO","urlMain":"http://www.fao.org/economic/ess/ess-fs/ess-fadata/en/","dateAccessed":"2017-05-23","datePublished":"2017","license":{"url":"http://www.fao.org/contact-us/terms/db-terms-of-use/en","name":"CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO"}}]}