This document provides an analysis of factors working towards and against global progress in reaching MDG1 hunger targets before 2015. The HungerFree scoring system is used to determine which countries are more or less on track and those that are very far from it.

Even before the food and financial crises pushed hunger to unprecedented highs, malnutrition was the underlying cause of nearly 4.5 million child deaths every year. An extra 1.2 million children could die unnecessarily between now and 2015, partly as a result of setbacks on hunger.

Large as it is, the loss of life caused by hunger is dwarfed by the invisible and permanent loss of human potential. Childhood hunger causes irreversible damage to mental and physical capacity, cutting a person’s lifetime earnings by as much as 20 percent and reducing overall economic output. ActionAid estimates that failure to meet the MDG goal of halving hunger is costing developing countries over $450 billion per year in lost GDP – more than 10 times the amount the UN estimates would be needed to achieve the MDG hunger targets.

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