ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Famine

Famine

Famine is a widespread condition in which many people in a country or region are unable to access adequate food supplies. Famines result in malnutrition, starvation, disease, and high death rates.

Grades

5 - 8

Subjects

Geography, Social Studies, Health, Economics, Civics

Image

Refugees on Train to Dacca

Photo: Refugees escape places experiencing famine as they seek food security on the way to Dacca, Bangladesh.

Photograph by Steve Raymer
Photo: Refugees escape places experiencing famine as they seek food security on the way to Dacca, Bangladesh.

Famine is a widespread condition in which a large percentage of people in a country or region have little or no access to adequate food supplies. Many people believe that famines are food shortages caused solely by underproduction. However, in many cases, famine has multiple causes.

A natural disaster, such as a long period of drought, flooding, extreme cold, typhoons, insect infestations, or plant disease, combined with government decisions on how to respond to the disaster, can result in a famine. The famine might be initiated by a natural disaster, and a government's inability or unwillingness to deal with the consequences of that event may magnify the effects. This happened in North Korea in the 1990s when government mismanagement of food supplies and an inequitable rationing policy led to a famine that killed over two million people by some estimates.

Human events also lead to famine. A major human cause of famine is warfare. During war, crops are destroyed, either intentionally or as a result of combat. In addition, supply lines and routes are cut off, and food cannot be distributed or is prevented from being distributed by combatants. Forced starvation for political reasons is another cause of famine. In the Soviet Union of the 1930s, for example, millions of peasants died as a result of leader Joseph Stalin’s agricultural policies, which required that a quota of grain be supplied to the government before any of the grain could be consumed by those who grew it. Anyone caught violating the policy could be executed.

Europe and other developed parts of the world have mostly eliminated famine, though in earlier history, particularly the Middle Ages, some European countries experienced widespread famines that killed thousands, possibly even millions of people. Today, famine is most common in African countries. In 2011, for example, widespread famine began in the African nation of Somalia. More than 250,000 people died as a result. In 2017, the United Nations officially declared a famine in parts of South Sudan, where a civil war had begun in 2013.

A major way to prevent famine is by supporting humanitarian relief efforts. In addition, many groups support the funding of programs to help local communities survive times of drought and other causes of food scarcity.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Director
Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society
Author
National Geographic Society
Production Managers
Gina Borgia, National Geographic Society
Jeanna Sullivan, National Geographic Society
Program Specialists
Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society, National Geographic Society
Margot Willis, National Geographic Society
Producer
Clint Parks
Intern
Roza Kavak
other
Last Updated

October 19, 2023

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

Media

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Related Resources