The International Food Policy Research Institute says five fast-growing, middle-income nations — Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Mexico — also are home to nearly half the hungry people of the world. “That is why we must focus on those living in the ‘economic middle’ if we are to effectively combat hunger and malnutrition on a global scale,” says IFPRI in releasing its latest Global Food Policy Report. The report recommends the governments of middle-income countries should re-shape their food systems to focus on nutrition and health, to close the gender gap in agriculture and improve rural infrastructure.
The five countries identified by IFPRI have 44 percent of the world’s population, according to a recent count, and are four of the five most populous nations. China has nearly 1.4 billion citizens and India, the second-largest nation, has 1.2 billion.
The 2014-15 Global Food Policy Report is available here. The food situation in middle-income nations is one of seven issues discussed in the report.