25th April 2015: at 11:56am local time, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, one of the poorest nations in the world. These 10 facts highlight how dramatic the hunger situation was in the country even before the seismic destruction arrived to further deteriorate its condition. Please help WFP raise awareness by sharing them on Twitter.
1) One in four people in Nepal lives below the national poverty line - which is just US$50 cents per day - so many struggle to feed themselves and their families.
2) Nepal’s vulnerability to high food prices, especially in remote mountain areas, drives hunger . Average food prices in the mountain and hill regions are over 100 percent higher than in other locations.
3) In Nepal, approximately 5 million people are undernourished. 41 percent of children under five are stunted - short for their age - and 29 percent are underweight
4) 70 percent of the population work the land for a living and agriculture accounts for more than a third of the country’s economic output.
5) Agricultural production is not keeping pace with population growth - and frequent natural disasters are a constant threat to livelihoods.
6) The average yearly earning of a person in Nepal is US$ 707 and the country ranks 145 out of 187 on the 2014 UNDP Human Development Index.
7) In 2014, WFP provided mid-day meals to 180,000 children in 2,115 primary schools in Nepal.
8) WFP aims to provide food for 1.4 million people in urgent need of assistance after the quake over the next three months.
9) 39 of 75 districts of the country are reported to be affected by the earthquake.
10) An estimated 8 million people have been affected by the earthquake, that's almost the 30 percent of the entire population.
Visit our hunger facts page