U.N. says 1 billion are facing hunger

ROME — The global financial meltdown has pushed the ranks of the world’s hungry to 1 billion, a grim milestone that poses a threat to peace and security, U.N. food officials said Friday.

Because of war, drought, political instability, high food prices and poverty, hunger now affects one in six people, according to the United Nations’ estimate.

The financial meltdown has compounded the crisis in what the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization called a "devastating combination for the world’s most vulnerable.”

Compared with last year, there are 100 million more people who are hungry, meaning they consume fewer than 1,800 calories a day, the U.N. agency said.

Officials presenting the new estimates sought to stress the link between hunger and instability.

"A hungry world is a dangerous world,” said Josette Sheeran of the World Food Program. "Without food, people have only three options: They riot, they emigrate or they die.”

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