The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization has estimated that as many as 550
million people around the world suffer from chronic hunger. That means that as many as
one of ten of the world's population do not get enough food to eat. This figure does not
even include the hundreds of millions of people who suffer blindness, goiter, anemia and
other diseases due to poor diet. This year alone more than 17 million people will die from
starvation. About 11 of the 17 million people who will die will be under the age of five and
could have been prevented by an adequate supply of food because, the diseases they die
from aren't life threatening with the absence of malnutrition. The cause of food shortages
in many countries is due to either the breakdown of government, civil war or the common
pattern of poverty, underdevelopment, and poor growing conditions that destroy the
ability to feed the population. Two nations who are now facing food shortages are Russia
The populations of Russia and the other former Soviet Republics are now facing
malnutrition. Although they are advanced industrial countries and have vast agricultural
resources, their people are going hunger. This is because of the terrible transition from a
state-controlled economy to a free market. While under the state-controlled economy the
population of Russia had very little choice in what they were able to buy because, the
stores had few products but, the people weren't starving. Now in the free market economy
the stores are full of product its just that the people can't afford the food because, the
prices are so high. Russia is a perfect example of how a breakdown in government causes
Ethiopia and the rest of the Horn of Africa have been facing food shortages for
many years. The reason for famine conditions in this region is the damaging of crops and
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