World
hunger and malnutrition were on the decline for much of the late 20th century. But after falling to 788 million in the mid-1990s, the number
of hungry people began to rise, reaching 915 million in 2008. In 2009 it jumped to
over 1 billion. Crop failures caused by extreme weather events such as the 2010 Russian
heat wave will make it harder to feed people around the world.
