Globalization And World Hunger

One very important positive development is that despite the global boom bust cycles, global hunger has been falling.

According to the Economist, (bold highlights mine)

“TWENTY-NINE countries suffer from “alarming” levels of hunger, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a report published on Monday October 11th. The “Global Hunger Index” (GHI) gives developing countries scores based on three indicators: the proportion of people who are undernourished, the proportion of children under five who are underweight, and the child mortality rate. The worst possible score is 100, but in practice, anything over 25 is considered “alarming”. Scores under five, meanwhile, are indicative of “low hunger”. Since 1990 the overall level of the index has fallen by almost a quarter (though the data do not cover the period of the global recession beginning in 2008). Two-thirds of the 99 countries counted in 1990 have reduced their populations' hunger levels. Kuwait, Malaysia, Turkey and Mexico have been the most successful, cutting their scores by over 60%. Those where hunger has increased include North Korea, Comoros and Congo. Congo's GHI score fell by over 60%, the worst of any country.”

Since 1990, after China and India opened her doors to embrace capitalism, world trade has exploded.

And this has been one of the main reasons for the vast improvement in poverty levels as measured by the hungry index.

Besides, the best performing countries, as noted by the Economist, can be observed as in the higher strata of economic freedom based on the Heritage Foundation’s Index (2010), specifically, South Korea ranked 31st, Mexico 41^st, Kuwait 42^nd and Turkey 67^th, while the worst performers in terms of the hunger index are those least free or at the tailend of economic freedom index—Comoros 165^th, Republic of Congo 169^th, Democratic Republic of Congo 172^nd and North Korea 179^th.

This goes to show how free trade and economic freedom democratises wealth.