It is difficult to describe data as inherently inconvenient. They are simply facts and figures, expressed in numbers, percentages or dry descriptions. What can be uncomfortable, however, is how we respond to them. When confronted with something unpleasant, we generally have two choices: we can try to change the situation or put it out of our minds, as though it did not exist.
The figures on hunger, poverty and the lack of life's most basic necessities are deeply troubling. We would rather they did not exist at all. But they do. Behind every number are people, their life stories, their hardships and, all too often, their suffering.
Hunger
According to the latest report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 645 million people worldwide experienced hunger in 2025, representing 7.8 per cent of the global population. An even larger number, about 2.1 billion people, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, meaning they lacked reliable access to sufficient, nutritious food. (FAO, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026)
Poverty
According to World Bank data from October 2026, approximately 811 million people live in extreme poverty. That is roughly one in ten people worldwide. Their daily consumption is less than $3.00 in international dollars, adjusted for purchasing power parity to account for differences in the cost of living between countries.
Yet poverty is far more widespread. As many as 3.7 billion people, nearly half the world's population, live on less than $8.30 a day, the poverty threshold used for upper-middle-income countries. (World Bank, Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2026)
Drinking Water
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, approximately 2.1 billion people lacked access to safely managed drinking water in 2024. Among them, 106 million people relied directly on surface water from rivers, lakes and other unprotected sources for drinking. (WHO and UNICEF, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000–2024)
Sanitation and Hygiene
In 2024, approximately 3.4 billion people lacked access to safely managed sanitation, meaning they did not have access to adequate toilet facilities and the safe management of human waste. (WHO and UNICEF, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000–2024)
Healthcare
According to a December 2025 report by the World Health Organization and the World Bank, approximately 4.6 billion people lacked full access to essential health services in 2023. (WHO and World Bank, Tracking Universal Health Coverage, 2025)
Education
According to a March 2026 report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), approximately 273 million children and young people were out of school in 2024. That is roughly one in six children and young people of school age. (UNESCO, Global Education Monitoring Report 2026)
Adequate Housing
According to the 2026 report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), up to 3.4 billion people lack access to safe and adequate housing. More than 1.1 billion people live in informal settlements and slums, often in overcrowded homes without adequate infrastructure and basic services. (UN-Habitat, World Cities Report 2026)
From Facts to Action
Of course, statistics cannot fully capture how people live around the world. Some lack several basic necessities at once, while others may lack only one. Yet each such deprivation can be tragic in itself. And this is without mentioning the many others who may not fall into any of these categories but are nevertheless denied the opportunity to live a decent life.
The question, then, is not simply how many people suffer from deprivation, but above all, what we are going to do about them. Will we accept them as an inevitable fact of the modern world, or will we see them as a call for change?
Will we finally recognise that things cannot go on like this? We cannot speak of progress when so many people have almost nothing. Nor can we speak of our own humanity while allowing such inhumanity to persist.
Why do we fail to recognise that these problems can only be solved through a fairer sharing of resources and greater cooperation? The world will not become a better place simply because we have electric cars, the latest mobile phones or robots. It will become a better place when no one has to suffer from a lack of life's most basic necessities.
That is why the sharing economy offers such a simple yet achievable path towards a better future.





