ROME – The FAO has announced that the Millennium Development goal of halving world hunger by 2015 is within reach.

The UN agency stressed that the issue of world hunger is still very much prevalent, with 805 million people still living in hunger, or one in nine of the entire population. However there has been a positive trend in combatting hunger over recent decades with around 200 million less people living in hunger than in 1990.

The Millennium Development goal to reduce hunger set a target of a 50% reduction in the proportion of hungry people. 63 developing countries have since met that goal and a further six are expected to do so by 2015.

The heads of FAO, IFAD and WFP wrote in a joint statement, “this is proof that we can win the war against hunger and should inspire countries to move forward.”