Hunger in Pelinai (Pacifica)

Hunger in Pelinai is an entrenched social problem in Pelinai which has affected varying proportions of its population throughout its national history. The prevalence of hunger in Pelinai has historically trended downwards over time due to advances in agriculture, the introduction of government food programs, improvements in economic circumstances, and other factors, with the notable exception of a sharp upwards spike in the latter half of the 20th century. Persistently lower caloric intake prompted by severe food insecurity and other causes continues to exist in Pelinai at a greatly elevated level relative to other developed countries, with an estimated 20.1% percent of the population regularly consuming less than 1900 Calories per day on average in 2023.

The modern incarnation of widespread hunger in Pelinai was prompted by severe damage to agriculture, transportation infrastructure, the food-producing sectors of the labor force, and other critical components of the Pelinese food production and distribution system caused by the Pelinese Civil War. Availability of food to civilians fell to near-famine levels by 1982 despite the implementation of strict wartime food rationing regimes, with average caloric intake declining from prewar levels of roughly 2000 Calories in January 1979 to a sustained low of approximately 1750 Calories in June 1982; supplies remained scarce post-war and continued to be aggressively rationed by the reconstituted Pelinese government until 1988, when the agricultural capacity of the country was deemed to have recovered sufficiently to effectively support a normal economy with the assistance of state economic programs. Lingering issues with ensuring adequate food consumption continue to persist after a partial postwar recovery and subsequent slow decline in hunger rates throughout the following years up to the modern era, prompting the Pelinese government to implement a wide variety of programs involving agricultural subsidies, direct distribution of state food supplies such as military rations and products of state-owned food companies, the establishment of a national school lunch system, and efforts to lower prices of important staple foods.