After increasing sharply from 2006 to 2009, owing to high food prices and the global economic crisis, the number of undernourished people in the world is estimated to have declined in 2010 as the global economy recovers (Figure 1). But the number of undernourished people remains unacceptably high – higher than it was before the recent crises, higher than it was 40 years ago, and higher than the level that existed when the hunger-reduction target was agreed at the World Food Summit in 1996 (see Box 1). Based on the latest available data, the total number of undernourished people in the world is estimated to have reached 1 023 million in 2009 and is expected to decline by 9.6 percent to 925 million in 2010. Developing countries account for 98 percent of the world’s undernourished people and have a prevalence of undernourishment of 16 percent (Figure 2) – down from 18 percent in 2009 but still well above the target set by  the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1. Global cereal harvests have been strong for the past several years – even as the number of undernourished people was rising – but the overall improvement in food security in 2010 reflects improved access to food through the expected resumption of economic growth, particularly in developing countries, combined with food prices that remain below the peaks of 2008. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that world economic output will increase by 4.2 percent in 2010, faster than previously expected, following a contraction of 0.6 percent in 2009.1 In general, gross domestic product (GDP) is growing faster in emerging economies and developing 
 