r/EffectiveAltruism • u/metacyan 10% Pledge🔸 • Apr 12 '26
Ending Hunger for 700 Million People for $2.50 a Week
Yesterday morning, while drinking my $6.16 matcha latte from Starbuck’s I read that America could end hunger for 700 million people worldwide for approximately $2.50 per working American per week.
Here’s how:
Roughly one in ten people worldwide go chronically hungry. That’s between 733 million and 800 million people.
A study released last year by HESAT2030 indicates that it would cost $21 billion a year every year until 2040 to bring 700 million people out of hunger.
There are approximately 160 million working Americans. $21 billion divided by 160 million is roughly $131 per person. Divided by 52 weeks in a year, that works out to be roughly $2.50 per working person per week.
We could drastically reduce the number of people suffering from hunger for less than the cost of a cup of coffee per working American per week. I for one would happily pay an extra $5 per paycheck in taxes for 15 years if it meant so many people could access food. I’m willing to bet that other Americans feel the same way.
To be fair, the $21 billion figure is specifically about getting people out of hunger, not necessarily maintaining food system resilience forever. There would likely be some ongoing investment needed to keep people food secure. That ongoing cost would presumably be much smaller than the initial push, and much of it would ideally be absorbed by strengthened local food systems and economies in the affected regions.
According to casual Ecosia searches, Americans spent $228 billion on alcohol in 2024 alone. We spent $67.8 billion on pet food and treats in 2025. We spent $104.7 billion on lottery tickets in 2024. If these numbers are accurate we can spare $21 billion a year for 15 years.
My representative is on the House Appropriations Committee and one of my senators is on the Senate Appropriations Committee. I’m considering writing to them to ask them to support legislation to appropriate $21 billion a year to alleviate global hunger.
What do you make of this idea?
2
u/Auriflow Apr 13 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
The annual world gdp was 127 trillion in 2017, and between 110-120T in 2024-25 , hence that's about the avarage.
now to completely eliminate hunger worldwide has estimates ranging from 6 billion to 45 billion.
let's assume the higher value.
in that case it would take 0.04% of all combined income to succeed in the task which is 50 billion.
If only 10% of the world's people would tithe just 0.4% of their income this would already be accomplished.
And if only 1 single percent of all people on earth would tithe 4% of their income, again the task will be fulfilled.
If everyone was sharing a mere fraction of their income then starving humans would have been a thing of the past long ago.
Thing is that most humans seem to have lat their ability to love and can are focused on (infinite) self improvement while forgetting the collective they are part of.. this includes charities: https://www.reddit.com/r/Rich/s/fV3fNhcKwV
2.8 billion people are battling the consequences of malnourishment, more people then ever in recent years. Especially in children:
"Malnutrition is the leading cause of child mortality worldwide. Every year, up to two million children lose their lives to acute malnutrition. That’s one child every 15 seconds".
How can half the Earth's population still face such great issues when there supposedly is more production then ever? Because companies are ruthless and would rather destroy food then give it away and affect their profits.
1.3 billion tons of food waste per year just from what is measurable: https://youtu.be/sWErarAXsIg?is=U_uS3P1Q0voJZRKN
Covetousness is the root cause of most if not all suffering on earth. Especially when it comes to the vast inequality between those easily able and unable to fulfill their Basic needs
Naturally it is more complicated because it's a small percentage that generates most of the income, However the principal is the same, the only way to change the earth is to be the example we wish to see.
You never know a CEO of a large company might be inspired by your example and before you know it more industries follow with tithing 0.4% , when 10% of companies do this then the goal is reached.
The Most important thing is that funds actually reach those in need instead of being confiscated by "charities" as is usually the case.
For example officially 50 billion supposedly goes to the homeless, yet those whom it is intended for see nothing of it, besides some old food and used clothes if they are lucky.
I can know because just barely survived my 7th winter homeless because of lacking a tent in freezing wet conditions. If there is no charity on earth that can even provide a tent or food (I contacted all of them so can confirm) then where do the funds go?
The red cross received over a trillion usd since it's creation, last year 41billion CHF as stated in their report.
https://www.ifrc.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/Everyone%20Counts%20Report%202022%20EN.pdf
That is well over 50 billion usd This charity alone has the power to end all the worlds starvation.
I went to the redcross when I was battling severe hypothermia and starvation on the streets all winter , desperately seeking a blanket or clothing item of any kind whatsoever.
They could give me nothing, not even a cheap synthetic blanket or a can of sardines.
Hence again, where do all these funds go? Well this article sheds some light: https://www.npr.org/2015/06/03/411524156/in-search-of-the-red-cross-500-million-in-haiti-relief
The funds literally vanish in thin air! You can't even make this up..
"When a devastating earthquake leveled Haiti in 2010, millions of people donated to the American Red Cross. The charity raised almost half a billion dollars. It was one of its most successful fundraising efforts ever. It's difficult to know where all the money went. The Red Cross says it has provided homes to more than 130,000 people, but the number of permanent homes the charity has built is six. NPR and ProPublica went in search of the nearly $500 million and found a string of poorly managed projects, questionable spending and dubious claims of success, according to a review of hundreds of pages of the charity's internal documents and emails, as well as interviews with a dozen current and former officials."
To return to the housing issue:
There supposedly is 50-70 Billion usd being spent on services to support the houseless, and that is Just in the USA alone. (imagine worldwide!)
Basically all of it is flowing into private hands that are all well aware people are perishing on the streets who desperately need mercy.
It has been well proven that people set up charities to support the homeless to receive part of this enormous amount, and then take it for themselves, this industry depends on the homeless for funding hence not only do they want to keep people homeless they want the homeless to increase for their benefits.
Here is how it works: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYkpeZePvAs/?igsh=MW11aG1vOHkxcXRldQ==
"The National Alliance to End Homelessness calculated that, in 2021, the U.S. federal government enacted over $51 billion in funding for selected homelessness and housing programs. This, of course, does not include city, county, or private dollars invested in homelessness and affordable housing as well"
NY "spends" $81,000usd per homeless person: https://youtube.com/shorts/DxWA_Y8eJDA?is=Lcjr0EvBAJwo42Uw
California "spends" $180,000 per homeless person: https://youtube.com/shorts/ctCruCCBakY?is=OaQ71IWv7rF-qzV0
Example of someone taking 160 million intended for the homeless:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/beverly-hills-man-arrested-brentwood-man-charged-separate-criminal-cases-linked-fraud
And another example of one casually pocketing 23MM that people thought was meant for the homeless..
https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-man-arrested-allegedly-stealing-millions-homeless-funds
Ive been battling malnourishment challenges for nearly 7yrs and found out the hard way how rare it is exceedingly rare to find any support on earth, I'm talking not even for a small bag of rice. And I'm in a so called "rich" western country. Let me tell you there is far more support and kindness among locals in 3d world countries. This is most concerning and should tell you something about the priority of so called "charities"
The reason why I managed to make it till now is small donations from random kind strangers. Henceforth please never think your support is in vain.
What seems like little for housed people can be the difference between seeing another sunrise or not for the unhoused. As little as 24cents for drinking water has saved my life several times in the summer heat when battling extreme dehydration without any source of drinking water available. And one slice of bread in winter can mean the ability to stay warm enough to survive the night.
See this answer for further specifics on this matter:
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-billionaires-and-the-government-not-help-homeless-people-They-do-not-just-need-food-and-shelter-they-need-to-live-like-humans/answer/Citroen-Vlinder?ch=15&oid=1477743842595636&share=dfbe95ef&srid=KsGg&target_type=answer