There are multiple problems with the unequal world of food distribution. In recent years, there has been a growing number of attempts to deal with the problems of world hunger; yet, many of these solutions seem to expose another issue altogether.
Though food prices had previously gone down steadily, along with the number of those hungry, since 1970, this decrease came to a halt in 2004. In 2008, a world food crisis began causing unrest in developing countries, many of which were just beginning to have access to the food they needed. In 2022, there were the highest global food prices since 2011, with the food price index, or the measure of monthly change in international prices of food reaching 143.7, according to the FOA Food Price Index.
These problems expose the underbelly of the problem. In rich countries, it is very unlikely that people will starve due to the increased prices. In these countries, a relatively small amount of people’s income is spent on food. In poorer countries, families can spend up to 80% of their income on food because of increasing prices, causing many families to not be able to buy food, which can be seen in reports by humanium.org.
Recently, there has been an overwhelming increase in the prices of meat and dairy to many countries increasing their income, such as Turkey or South Africa. The increased production of these foods caused the prices of grain to inflate significantly. These prices have caused riots in countries with citizens that cannot easily afford food, specifically, citizens with young children.
There are many countries who are struggling due to food distribution and the increasing prices of food globally.