section_path: Characteristics/Health/Hunger
section_name: Hunger
paragraph_text: Hunger
  
  It is estimated that 1.02 billion people go to bed hungry every night. According to the Global Hunger Index, Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest child malnutrition rate of the world's regions over the 2001–2006 period.
  
  Poor people spend a greater portion of their budgets on food than wealthy people and, as a result, they can be particularly vulnerable to increases in food prices. For example, in late 2007, increases in the price of grains led to food riots in some countries. Threats to the supply of food may also be caused by drought and the water crisis. Intensive farming often leads to a vicious cycle of exhaustion of soil fertility and decline of agricultural yields. Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals is the elimination of hunger and undernutrition by 2030.