Approximately 115,000 Colombian adults and 6,400 Colombian children die of undernourishment each year, the United Nations said.
According to the “The State of Food Insecurity in the World,” a publication by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, 12.6% of the population, or six million Colombians, suffered undernourishment in the period 2010-2012.
FAO official Santiago Echeverri told RCN Radio that 14 of every 100,000 Colombian children and 250 of every 100,000 Colombian adults die because of undernourishment.
Colombia has vowed, as part of its millennium goals to combat poverty, to lower the percentage of undernourishment to below 9% in 2015. According to the U.N.’s projections, Colombia — whose undernourishment rate slightly went up over the past five years — will not be meeting this goal.