How many calories are there in the world

In , the average per capita supply in North America was almost three times as large as in Africa. In the chart here we see this FAO data on per capita fat supply mapped by country from to Countries across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa tend to fall within the range of grams, and between grams in South America. However, increases over the last 50 years can be clearly seen by rewinding back to ; in this map we see that the majority of countries across South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia consumed less than 40 grams per day.

There is a strong correlation between per capita food supplies and prosperity. As we see in the three sub-sections below, the daily per capita supply of calories, protein and fat all tend to increase with economic growth. A number of countries selected across a range of income levels and global regions have been highlighted for comparison. For all three measures of food supply, we see a close correlation in per capita supply and prosperity.

As we get richer, per capita supply tends to increase. This growth is particularly true from low to upper-middle income ranges. However, in recent years we have seen an overall plateauing or in some cases a decline in per capita supply across a number of high-income countries.

For example, if we look at recent trends for the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Japan in the charts below on calories and protein, we see a typical stabilisation or decline in per capita intakes. In some high-income countries this is also true for per capita fat supply, although this plateauing effect is less marked. Per capita food supplies therefore tend to increase with economic growth, however this rise begins to slow at higher-income levels and in most cases begins to plateau or even decline with further growth.

A consequence of increasing per capita food supplies which may seem intuitive is its relationship to the prevalence of undernourishment. Undernourishment, as we cover in detail in our entry Hunger and Undernourishment , is defined as a caloric intake insufficient to meet minimum energy requirements for adequate weight and nutrition.

In this chart we have plotted the prevalence of undernourishment, measured as the percentage of the total population undernourished against the daily supply of calories, in kilocalories per person per day.

Overall, we see that countries with lower caloric supplies experience a higher incidence of undernourishment. Over time, we see that as per capita caloric supplies increase, the prevalence of undernourishment decreases. This is shown by a general migration to the bottom-right of the chart.

Note that the FAO does not record levels of undernourishment prevalence below 5 percent; this explains the illusion of a plateauing of prevalence at 5 percent. As we noted in our section on caloric supply across the world, there is significant uncertainty in figures for the USSR prior to its dissolution.

He explores this topic in detail here , which we briefly summarize below. If, we compare living standards — take average income for example — this is counterintuitive to what we would expect. The FAO acknowledges that their USSR estimates are highly uncertain — here they discuss in detail the sources of this data, doubts of their accuracy and how this affects their estimates methodologically.

Why is it suggested that these figures are an overestimate? As Artir discusses in his blog, alongside comparisons with other sources, it is likely that both the quantity and certainly the quality of food consumption in the USSR was below that of the USA.

And overall quality of diet in terms of micronutrient availability and dietary diversity was lower. How much lower or poorer in quality is hard to say — the data is not available to say with certainty. All our charts on Food Supply Average per capita supply of pulses Beef and buffalo meat consumption per person Coefficient of Variation CV in per capita caloric intake Daily caloric supply per person vs. GDP per capita Daily meat consumption per person Daily per capita caloric supply Daily per capita fat supply Daily per capita fat supply vs.

GDP per capita Daily per capita protein supply Daily per capita protein supply vs. GDP per capita Daily per capita supply of calories Daily per capita supply of calories vs.

GDP per capita Daily protein sources from plant-based and animal products Daily protein supply from animal and plant-based foods Daily protein supply of animal origin vs. GDP per capita Daily supply of calories Fat supply by region Food supply vs life expectancy Meat supply per person Per capita consumption of cereals by commodity type, daily kilocalories Per capita sources of protein Per capita sugar food supply vs GDP per capita Prevalence of undernourishment vs.

GDP per capita Share of dietary energy supply from carbohydrates vs. GDP per capita Share of dietary energy supply from fats vs. GDP per capita Share of energy from cereals, roots, and tubers vs. GDP per capita Share of protein supply from animal-based foods vs.

GDP per capita. Caloric Energy Supply. Caloric supply by region. Click to open interactive version. World map of caloric supply. You can view the annual trends of any country over time by clicking on it in the map. Full screen view Open in new tab Download Data. Inequalities in caloric supply within countries.

Famine and overpopulation in the poorest countries in the world could spark a new era of humans feasting on each other, claimed biology professor and research associate at the American Natural Museum of History, Bill Schutt.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips the-sun. Jump directly to the content. Sign in. In , the world produced 5, kilocalories of crops per person per day that could be consumed by humans, and an additional 3, kcal of vegetable matter produced to be eaten by animals.

The dietary energy supply — the food actually available for human consumption after taking out food waste and loss, non-food utilisation such as animal feed and industrial use as well as changes in stocks, is much lower.

In a global average of 2, kcal were available for daily human consumption, up from 2, kcal fifty years earlier and 2, kcal ten years before. Food Security Indicators. Update 9 October