| Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary 1,524,093,099 visitors served. |
Dictionary/ thesaurus | Medical dictionary | Legal dictionary | Financial dictionary | Acronyms | Idioms | Encyclopedia | Wikipedia encyclopedia | ? |
famine |
Also found in: Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.06 sec. |
famineExtreme and protracted shortage of food, resulting in widespread hunger and a substantial increase in the death rate. General famines affect all classes or groups in the region of food shortage; class famines affect some classes or groups much more severely than others; regional famines affect only a particular region of a country. Causes may be natural or human. Natural causes include drought, flooding, unfavourable weather conditions, plant disease, and insect infestation. The chief human cause is war; others include overpopulation, bad distribution systems, and high food prices. Several severe famines occurred in the 20th century, including those in China (1928–29, 5–10 million dead; 1958–62, up to 20 million), Russia (1921–22, 1.25–5 million; 1932–34, 6–8 million), India (1943–44, 1.5 million), Cambodia (1975–79, 1 million), and sub-Saharan Africa. |
|
| ? Mentioned in | ? References in periodicals archive | |
|---|---|---|
Brown’s Numbers Contested Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute claims ethanol is creating an impending world food crisis. Eventually Smith shifts to assessing Kim Il Sung's rule, the food crisis of the 1990s, the international humanitarian response to it, and the extent to which the international community's effort transformed North Korea. But officials say donations have lagged after the tsunami, hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the African food crisis and the Pakistani earthquake. |
| Encyclopedia |
| Free Tools: |
For surfers:
Browser extension |
Word of the Day |
Help
For webmasters: Free content | Linking | Lookup box | Double-click lookup | Partner with us |
|---|