Child hunger on the increase, says new report

Children in the UK continue to enjoy some of the best standards of living in the world despite a global increase in child hunger, according to research by a leading charity.

Save The Children says Britain's place among the top 10 best countries to be a child is based on the quality of education, the low level of child mortality and number of children who are underweight.

But in contrast with the UK's continued good performance, the charity has warned the number of hungry children in the world has increased for the first time this decade.

The warning comes as the Government prepares for an international summit on hunger which is to be held in London during the Olympic Games.

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save The Children, said: "Our global Child Development Report shows that hunger has become the most urgent threat to children worldwide and threatens to drag back progress in saving and improving their lives.

"Hunger has become the Achilles' heel and unless we tackle it now, it threatens to undermine the overall progress made in cutting child deaths.

"Progress is possible with the right political will. We urge the Prime Minister to build on his development leadership and use the summit to fire a starting gun for the race to end world hunger, announcing it as the theme of his presidency of next year's G8."

Japan is considered the best place in the world to be a child, followed by countries such as Spain, Germany and Italy.

The other side of the coin are countries like Somalia, which is ranked last among the nations considered following a food crisis last year which killed tens of thousands of children.

According to Save The Children, the overall proportion of acutely malnourished children grew by 1.2% during the previous decade.

PA