It is the presence of conflict, or abuses of political power that can block food supplies reaching populations which represents the most pertinent trigger of ‘death-dealing’ famines today. Where poor harvests are the main cause of famine, as in Niger in 2005, relief provision tends to prevent marked increases in mortality. As such, the waning of the very high levels of warfare over the last decades (as seen in the reduced number of battle deaths in recent times) and the spread of democratic institutions has also played a large part in the substantial reduction in famine mortality witnessed in recent decades.Įmergency food aid provided by relief agencies continues to play a crucial role in preventing loss of life, and the international relief community has recently developed much better monitoring systems, such as the Famine Early Warning System, that has allowed for greater preparation and more timely interventions. This is because many of the major famines of the 20 th century were the outcome of wars or totalitarian regimes. Paradoxically, over the course of the 20 th century famine was virtually eradicated from most of the world, whilst over the same period there occurred some of the worst famines in recorded history. Over time, famines have become increasingly “man-made”-phenomena, becoming more clearly attributable to political causes, including non-democratic government and conflict. This includes many developments discussed in other pages of Our World in Data, such as the increasing availability of food per person, made possible through increasing agricultural yields improvements in healthcare and sanitation increased trade reduced food prices and food price volatility as well as reductions in the number of people living in extreme poverty. 3įamines have always occurred as the result of a complex mix of ‘technical’ and ‘political’ factors, 4 but the developments of the modern industrial era have generally reduced the salience of natural constraints in causing famine. We estimate that in total 128 Million people died in famines over this period. Nevertheless, the parts of the world that continue to be at risk of famine represent a much more limited geographic area than in previous eras, and those famines that have occurred recently have typically been far less deadly – as we will go on to show in this entry.įor this entry we have assembled a new global dataset on famines from the 1860s until 2016. This is not in anyway to underplay the very real risk facing the roughly 80 million people currently living in a state of crisis-level 2 food insecurity and therefore requiring urgent action. It is only in recent years that more precise, measurable definitions – in terms of mortality rates, food consumption and physical signs of malnutrition – have been developed.īut despite these ambiguities, it is nonetheless very clear that in recent decades the presence of major life-taking famines has diminished significantly and abruptly as compared to earlier eras. As we discuss in the Data Quality and Definition section below, the term ‘famine’ can mean different things to different people and has evolved over time. It is this crisis characteristic that distinguishes it from persistent malnutrition, which we discuss in another entry on this website. Information on current crises can be found at .Ī famine is an acute episode of extreme hunger that results in excess mortality due to starvation or hunger-induced diseases.

Our data include information only up to 2016. This entry focuses on the history of famine and famine mortality over time.

Data intensity