The number of hungry people in the world has steadily declined to a 25-year low, thanks largely to economic prosperity in China and other developing countries.

A quarter century ago, more than 1 billion people trapped in poverty lacked access to enough food to live a healthy life.

Today, the number of undernourished people stands at 795 million, according to the UN’s annual hunger report, released Wednesday, May 27. The number of underfed people has declined from 18.6 percent of the world’s population to 10.9 percent since 1990-92. Among developing nations, the improvement is even more dramatic: a drop from 23.3 percent in 1990-92 to 12.9 percent today.

“. . . We can indeed eliminate the scourge of hunger in our lifetime,” Jose