The Scope of Hidden Hunger in Zambia

Hunger is a worldwide problem, and Africa is the continent with the world's highest percentage of hungry persons; Zambia is the research setting, particularly because in 2016 it was ranked the third hungriest country in the world by the Global Hunger Index. This paper addresses hunger in that country, especially hidden hunger, and then identifies the factors that predict hunger. Rural respondents will receive some attention because of the literature's suggestion that African farmers may be hungrier than the rest of the population; gender is another focus for the same reason. The objective is to search for policy related factors that might help alleviate Zambia's hunger problem. To preview the results, 56percent of this Zambian sample reported some degree of hunger, with 10 percent indicating they are always hungry. Four factors emerged as predictors of hunger. In order they were age, education. Ownership of certain assets and respondent assessment of how the government was handling the problem of raising the living standards of the poor. The Spector of the HIV/AIDS epidemic looms over the study's results and recommendations for possible governmental actions designed to address the hunger problem in the future.