Hunger a threat to 30 million people in Europe – FAO

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 18 2004

PARIS, May 18 (Itar-Tass) – Some 30 million people are affected
by hunger in Central and Eastern Europe, David Sedic, an expert of
the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), has said in an
interview with the Liberation newspaper.

In his opinion, the situation if the worst in Latvia and Slovakia,
where five to six per cent of the people are nearly starving. The
figure for other Central European countries is about two percent,
Sedic said.

The situation is serious in many Balkan countries, especially in
Croatia, where 12 per cent of the people are affected by hunger.

The figure for Poland is only 1 per cent, but an alarming trend is
observed there: during the past ten years, the government failed
to reduce to below 30,000 the number of people, who are unable to
provide normal food for themselves.

The FAO expert mentioned Armenia and Tajikistan among the Eurasian
countries, where part of the population is suffering from insufficient
nourishment. The problem is also acute in Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are also facing the hunger problem, but to
a smaller degree.