Editing Famine (section)

==Regional history==
[[File:Famines-by-continent-and-ME-01 1839.png|thumb|Famines by continent]]

===Africa===
{{category see also|Famines in Africa}}

====Early history====
In the mid-22nd century BC, a sudden and short-lived climatic change that caused reduced rainfall resulted in several decades of drought in [[Upper Egypt]]. The resulting famine and civil strife is believed to have been a major cause of the collapse of the [[Old Kingdom]]. An account from the [[First Intermediate Period]] states, "All of Upper Egypt was dying of hunger and people were eating their children." As for recorded examples about more recent centuries: in the 1680s, famine extended across the entire [[Sahel]], and in 1738 half the population of [[Timbuktu]] died of famine.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ag.arizona.edu/~lmilich/desclim.html |title=Len Milich: Anthropogenic Desertification vs 'Natural' Climate Trends |website=Ag.arizona.edu |date=10 August 1997 |access-date=1 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211081648/http://ag.arizona.edu/~lmilich/desclim.html |archive-date=11 February 2012 }}</ref> In [[Egypt]], between 1687 and 1731, there were six famines.<ref>{{cite book |last=Quataert |first=Donald |title=The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-83910-5 |page=115}}</ref> The famine that afflicted Egypt in 1784 cost it roughly one-sixth of its population.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Manning |first1=Joseph G. |last2=Ludlow |first2=Francis |last3=Stine |first3=Alexander R. |last4=Boos |first4=William R. |last5=Sigl |first5=Michael |last6=Marlon |first6=Jennifer R. |title=Volcanic suppression of Nile summer flooding triggers revolt and constrains interstate conflict in ancient Egypt |journal=Nature Communications |date=17 October 2017 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=900 |doi=10.1038/s41467-017-00957-y |pmid=29042538 |pmc=5645420 |bibcode=2017NatCo...8..900M}}
* {{cite press release |date=22 November 2006 |title=Icelandic Volcano Caused Historic Famine In Egypt, Study Shows |website=ScienceDaily |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061121232204.htm}}</ref> The [[Maghreb]] experienced famine and [[Black Death|plague]] in the late 18th century and early 19th century.<ref>Nancy Elizabeth Gallagher (2002). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=etf7xP841skC&pg=PA25 Medicine and Power in Tunisia, 1780–1900]''. p. 25. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-52939-5}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712112255/http://books.google.com/books?id=etf7xP841skC&pg=PA25 |date=12 July 2014 }}</ref><ref>Daniel Panzac (2005). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_dyeFP5Hyc4C&pg=PA309 Barbary Corsairs: the end of a legend, 1800–1820]''. p. 309. {{ISBN|90-04-12594-9}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916141522/https://books.google.com/books?id=_dyeFP5Hyc4C&pg=PA309 |date=16 September 2023 }}</ref> There was famine in [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] in 1784, and in [[Tunis]] in 1785.<ref>Suraiya Faroqhi, Halil İnalcık, Donald Quataert (1997). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=c00jmTrjzAoC&pg=PA651 An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire]''. Cambridge University Press. p. 651. {{ISBN|0-521-57455-2}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916141522/https://books.google.com/books?id=c00jmTrjzAoC&pg=PA651 |date=16 September 2023 }}</ref>

According to John Iliffe, "Portuguese records of [[Angola]] from the 16th century show that a great famine occurred on average every seventy years; accompanied by epidemic disease, it might kill one-third or one-half of the population, destroying the demographic growth of a generation and forcing colonists back into the river valleys."<ref>John Iliffe (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=bNGN2URP_rUC ''Africans: the history of a continent'']. Cambridge University Press. p. 68. {{ISBN|0-521-68297-5}}</ref>

The first documentation of weather in West-Central Africa occurred around the mid-16th to 17th centuries in areas such as Luanda Kongo, however, not much data was recorded on the issues of weather and disease except for a few notable documents. The only records obtained are of violence between Portuguese and Africans during the [[Battle of Mbwila]] in 1665. In these documents the Portuguese wrote of African raids on Portuguese merchants solely for food, giving clear signs of famine. Additionally, instances of [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] by the African Jaga were also more prevalent during this time frame, indicating an extreme deprivation of a primary food source.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Joseph C. |title=The Significance of Drought, Disease and Famine in the Agriculturally Marginal Zones of West-Central Africa |journal=Journal of African History |date=January 1982 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=17–61 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700020235 |pmid=11632226 |s2cid=7601465 }}</ref>

====Colonial period====
[[File:Punch congo rubber cartoon.jpg|thumb|upright|A 1906 ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' cartoon depicting [[King Leopold II]] as a snake entangling a Congolese man]]
A notable period of famine occurred around the turn of the 20th century in the [[Congo Free State]]. In forming this state, Leopold used mass labor camps to finance his empire.<ref name="Masci 2002">{{cite journal |last=Masci |first=David |title=Famine in Africa |journal=CQ Researcher |date=8 November 2002 |volume=12 |issue=39 |url=http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |access-date=27 November 2011 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309155152/https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |url-status=live }}</ref> This period resulted in the death of up to 10 million Congolese from brutality, disease and famine.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dummett |first=Mark |title=King Leopold's Legacy of DR Congo Violence |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516965.stm |access-date=27 November 2011 |date=24 February 2004 |work=BBC News |archive-date=25 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325011812/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3516965.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Some colonial "pacification" efforts often caused severe famine, notably with the repression of the Maji Maji revolt in [[German East Africa|Tanganyika]] in 1906. The introduction of cash crops such as cotton, and forcible measures to impel farmers to grow these crops, sometimes impoverished the peasantry in many areas, such as northern Nigeria, contributing to greater vulnerability to famine when severe drought struck in 1913.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Papaioannou |first1=Kostadis J. |title=Climate shocks and conflict: Evidence from colonial Nigeria |journal=Political Geography |date=January 2016 |volume=50 |pages=33–47 |doi=10.1016/j.polgeo.2015.07.001 |hdl=1874/318818 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

A large-scale famine occurred in Ethiopia in 1888 and in succeeding years, as the [[1890s African rinderpest epizootic|rinderpest epizootic]], introduced into [[Eritrea]] by infected cattle, spread southwards reaching ultimately as far as [[South Africa]]. In Ethiopia it was estimated that as much as 90 percent of the national herd died, rendering rich farmers and herders destitute overnight. This coincided with [[drought]] associated with an ''[[El Niño]]'' oscillation, human epidemics of [[smallpox]], and in several countries, intense war. The [[Famines in Ethiopia|Ethiopian Great famine]] that afflicted Ethiopia from 1888 to 1892 cost it roughly one-third of its population.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccb.ucar.edu/ijas/ijasno2/georgis.html |title=El Niño and Drought Early Warning in Ethiopia |last=Wolde-Georgis |first=Tsegay  |website=www.ccb.ucar.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911102037/http://www.ccb.ucar.edu/ijas/ijasno2/georgis.html |archive-date=11 September 2007}}</ref> In [[Sudan]] the year 1888 is remembered as the worst famine in history, on account of these factors and also the [[Exaction|exactions]] imposed by the [[Muhammad Ahmad|Mahdist state]].

The [[oral tradition]]s of the [[Himba people]] recall two droughts from 1910 to 1917. From 1910 to 1911 the Himba described the drought as "drought of the omutati seed", also called ''omangowi'', the fruit of an unidentified vine that people ate during the time period. From 1914 to 1916, droughts brought ''katur' ombanda'' or ''kari' ombanda'' 'the time of eating clothing'.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Joseph C. |title=The Significance of Drought, Disease and Famine in the Agriculturally Marginal Zones of West-Central Africa |journal=Journal of African History |date=January 1982 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=17–61 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700020235 |pmid=11632226|s2cid=7601465 }}</ref>

====20th century====
[[File:Niger childhood malnutrition 16oct06.jpg|thumb|left|Malnourished children in [[Niger]], during the 2005 famine]]
For the middle part of the 20th century, agriculturalists, economists and geographers did not consider Africa to be especially famine prone. From 1870 to 2010, 87% of deaths from famine occurred in Asia and Eastern Europe, with only 9.2% in Africa.<ref name = "democracyFT">{{Cite news
|url= https://www.ft.com/content/13b15b80-0d82-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/13b15b80-0d82-11e7-a88c-50ba212dce4d |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription
|title= As democracy retreats, famine makes a comeback
|work= [[Financial Times]]
|first=David |last=Pilling
|date= 22 March 2017
|access-date=1 April 2017
|format={{registration required}}}}</ref> There were notable counter-examples, such as the famine in [[Rwanda]] during World War II and the [[Malawi]] famine of 1949, but most famines were localized and brief food shortages. Although the drought was brief the main cause of death in Rwanda was due to Belgian prerogatives to acquisition grain from their colony (Rwanda). The increased grain acquisition was related to WW2. This and the drought caused 300,000 Rwandans to perish.<ref name="Masci 2002"/>

From 1967 to 1969 large scale famine occurred in Biafra and Nigeria due to a [[Nigerian Civil War|government blockade of the Breakaway territory]]. It is estimated that 1.5 million people died of starvation due to this famine. Additionally, drought and other government interference with the food supply caused 500 thousand Africans to perish in Central and West Africa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Iliffe |first=John |title=Africans: The History of a Continent |year=1995 |publisher=Cambridge}}</ref>

Famine recurred in the early 1970s, when Ethiopia and the west African [[Sahel]] suffered [[Sahel drought|drought and famine]]. The Ethiopian famine of that time was closely linked to the crisis of feudalism in that country, and in due course helped to bring about the downfall of the Emperor [[Haile Selassie]]. The Sahelian famine was associated with the slowly growing crisis of pastoralism in Africa, which has seen livestock herding decline as a viable way of life over the last two generations.

[[File:Starved girl.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|A girl during the [[Nigerian Civil War]] of the late 1960s. Pictures of the famine caused by the Nigerian blockade garnered sympathy for the Biafrans worldwide.]]
Famines occurred in Sudan in the late-1970s and again in 1990 and 1998. The 1980 famine in [[Karamoja]], [[Uganda]] was, in terms of mortality rates, one of the worst in history. 21% of the population died, including 60% of the infants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food/8F091e/8F091E05.htm|title=Food and bulletin volume 9, number 1, march 1987|website=www.unu.edu|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=26 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226004126/http://unu.edu/unupress/food/8F091e/8F091E05.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 1980s, large scale multilayer drought occurred in the Sudan and Sahelian regions of Africa. This caused famine because even though the Sudanese Government believed there was a surplus of grain, there were local deficits across the region.<ref>{{cite web |last=B. E. |first=Spiers |title=Famine in Africa |url=http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=9110094&q=Famine+in+Africa&uid=791203203&setcookie=yes |access-date=27 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823070354/http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=9110094&q=Famine+in+Africa&uid=791203203&setcookie=yes |archive-date=23 August 2012}}</ref>

In October 1984, television reports describing the Ethiopian famine as "biblical", prompted the [[Live Aid]] concerts in London and Philadelphia, which raised large sums to alleviate the suffering. A primary cause of the famine (one of the largest seen in the country) is that Ethiopia (and the surrounding Horn) was still recovering from the droughts which occurred in the mid-late 1970s. Compounding this problem was the intermittent fighting due to [[Ethiopian civil war|civil war]], the [[Derg|government]]'s lack of organization in providing relief, and hoarding of supplies to control the population. Ultimately, over 1 million Ethiopians died and over 22 million people suffered due to the prolonged drought, which lasted roughly 2 years.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ethiopia in Crisis: Famine and Its Aftermath 1984–1988|url=http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/35.htm|publisher=U.S. Library of Congress|access-date=29 November 2011|archive-date=12 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012005810/http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/35.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1992 Somalia became a war zone with no effective government, police, or basic services after the collapse of the dictatorship led by [[Siad Barre]] and the split of power between warlords. This coincided with a massive drought, causing over 300,000 Somalis to perish.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Masci |first=David |title=Famine in Africa |journal=CQ Researcher |date=8 November 2002 |volume=12 |issue=39 |url=http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |access-date=29 November 2011 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309155152/https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2002110800#top |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Recent years====
[[File:Maradi aidecentre Niger9aug2005 2.jpg|thumb|left|Laure Souley holds her three-year-old daughter and an infant son at a MSF aide center during the 2005 famine, Maradi Niger]]
Since the start of the 21st century, more effective early warning and humanitarian response actions have reduced the number of deaths by famine markedly. That said, many African countries are not self-sufficient in food production, relying on income from [[cash crop]]s to import food. [[Agriculture]] in Africa is susceptible to [[climate|climatic]] fluctuations, especially [[drought]]s which can reduce the amount of food produced locally. Other agricultural problems include [[Soil fertility|soil infertility]], [[land degradation]] and [[erosion]], swarms of [[desert locust]]s, which can destroy whole crops, and livestock diseases. [[Desertification]] is increasingly problematic: the [[Sahara]] reportedly spreads up to {{convert|30|mi|km|0|order=flip}} per year.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0801/p01s02-woaf.html |title=Hunger is spreading in Africa |journal=Christian Science Monitor |date=1 August 2005 |access-date=1 February 2016 |archive-date=23 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123114118/http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0801/p01s02-woaf.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The most serious famines have been caused by a combination of drought, misguided economic policies, and conflict. The 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia, for example, was the outcome of all these three factors, made worse by the Communist government's censorship of the emerging crisis. In Capitalist Sudan at the same date, drought and economic crisis combined with denials of any food shortage by the then-government of President [[Gaafar Nimeiry]], to create a crisis that killed perhaps 250,000 people—and helped bring about a popular uprising that overthrew Nimeiry.

Numerous factors make the [[food security]] situation in Africa tenuous, including political instability, armed conflict and [[civil war]], [[political corruption|corruption]] and mismanagement in handling food supplies, and trade policies that harm African agriculture. An example of a famine created by human rights abuses is the [[1998 Sudan famine]]. [[AIDS]] is also having long-term economic effects on agriculture by reducing the available workforce, and is creating new vulnerabilities to famine by overburdening poor households. On the other hand, in the modern history of Africa on quite a few occasions famines acted as a major source of acute political instability.<ref>See, for example, [[Andrey Korotayev]] and [[Daria Khaltourina]] ''[https://www.academia.edu/27503953/Introduction_to_Social_Macrodynamics_Secular_Cycles_and_Millennial_Trends_in_Africa Secular Cycles and Millennial Trends in Africa]''. Moscow: 2006. {{ISBN|5-484-00560-4}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216214439/https://www.academia.edu/27503953/Introduction_to_Social_Macrodynamics_Secular_Cycles_and_Millennial_Trends_in_Africa |date=16 February 2020 }}</ref> In Africa, if current trends of [[population growth]] and [[soil retrogression and degradation|soil degradation]] continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to [[United Nations University]] (UNU)'s Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.<ref name="news.mongabay.com">{{cite web |title=Africa may be able to feed only 25% of its population by 2025 |url=http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1214-unu.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127175559/http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1214-unu.html |archive-date=27 November 2011 |work=Mongabay}}</ref>
[[File:Sahel Map-Africa rough.png|thumb|right|Famine-affected areas in the western [[Sahel]] belt during the [[2012 Sahel drought|2012 drought]].]]

Famines in the early 21st century in Africa include the [[2005–06 Niger food crisis]], the [[2010 Sahel famine]] and the [[2011 East Africa drought]], where two consecutive missed rainy seasons precipitated the one of the worst [[2011 East Africa drought|droughts in East Africa]] in 60 years.<ref>{{cite news|title=One year on, thousands flee Somalia every month, but successes too|newspaper=Unhcr|url=http://www.unhcr.org/4fce08ac6.html|access-date=5 June 2012|archive-date=5 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605224414/http://www.unhcr.org/4fce08ac6.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Twdisyihoa">{{cite web|title=The worst drought in 60 years in Horn Africa |url=http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/node/2158 |publisher=Africa and Europe in Partnership |access-date=2 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102172007/http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/node/2158 |archive-date=2 November 2011}}</ref> An estimated 50,000 to 150,000 people are reported to have died during the period.<ref>[https://world.time.com/2012/01/18/fatal-failure-did-aid-agencies-let-up-to-100000-somalis-die-in-2011/ "Fatal Failure: Did Aid Agencies Let Up To 100,000 Somalis Die in 2011?"] . ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. 18 January 2012.</ref><ref name="Mafhscbafro">{{cite news |last=Warah |first=Rasna |title=Manufacturing a famine: How Somalia crisis became a fund-raising opportunity |url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/How+Somalia+crisis++became+a+fund+raising+opportunity+/-/2558/1246690/-/oe8n10/-/index.html |access-date=16 March 2013 |newspaper=The East African |date=2 October 2011 |archive-date=24 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024171549/http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/How+Somalia+crisis++became+a+fund+raising+opportunity+/-/2558/1246690/-/oe8n10/-/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, the [[2012 Sahel drought|Sahel drought]] put more than 10 million people in the western Sahel at risk of famine (according to a [[Methodist Relief & Development Fund (MRDF)]] aid expert), due to a month-long heat wave.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12566 |title=Methodists make appeal for famine threatened West Africa |publisher=Ekklesia |date=6 July 2010 |access-date=1 February 2016 |archive-date=7 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307152019/http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12566 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="http://www.poverties.org Famine in Africa">{{cite web|title=Famine in Africa, A Failure of the World System?|url=http://www.poverties.org/famine-in-africa.html|website=Poverties|publisher=poverties.org|access-date=26 April 2016|archive-date=25 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160525174621/http://www.poverties.org/famine-in-africa.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Today, famine is most widespread in [[Sub-Saharan Africa]], but with exhaustion of food resources, overdrafting of [[groundwater]], wars, internal struggles, and economic failure, famine continues to be a worldwide problem with hundreds of millions of people suffering.<ref>{{cite journal |author=The Christian Science Monitor |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0724/p01s01-wogi.html |title=Rising food prices curb aid to global poor |date=24 July 2007 |journal=The Christian Science Monitor |access-date=14 September 2007 |archive-date=23 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023091853/https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0724/p01s01-wogi.html |url-status=live }}</ref> These famines cause widespread malnutrition and impoverishment. The [[1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia|famine in Ethiopia]] in the 1980s had an immense death toll, although Asian famines of the 20th century have also produced extensive death tolls. Modern African famines are characterized by widespread destitution and malnutrition, with heightened mortality confined to young children.

====Current initiatives====
Against a backdrop of conventional interventions through the state or markets, alternative initiatives have been pioneered to address the problem of food security. One pan-African example is the [[Great Green Wall (Africa)|Great Green Wall]]. Another example is the "Community Area-Based Development Approach" to agricultural development ("CABDA"), an NGO programme with the objective of providing an alternative approach to increasing food security in Africa. CABDA proceeds through specific areas of intervention such as the introduction of drought-resistant crops and new methods of food production such as agro-forestry. Piloted in Ethiopia in the 1990s it has spread to Malawi, Uganda, Eritrea and Kenya. In an analysis of the programme by the [[Overseas Development Institute]], CABDA's focus on individual and community capacity-building is highlighted. This enables farmers to influence and drive their own development through community-run institutions, bringing food security to their household and region.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=2572&title=community-area-based-development-approach-cabda-programme-alternative-way-address-current-african-food-crisis
 |title=Community Area-Based Development Approach (CABDA) Programme. An alternative way to address the current African food crisis?
 |date=November 2008
 |publisher=Overseas Development Institute
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-date=25 December 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091225120249/http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/details.asp?id=2572&title=community-area-based-development-approach-cabda-programme-alternative-way-address-current-african-food-crisis
 }}</ref>

====The role of African Unity organization====
The organization of African unity and its role in the African crisis has been interested in the political aspects of the continent, especially the liberation of the occupied parts of it and the elimination of racism. The organization has succeeded in this area but the economic field and development has not succeeded in these fields. African leaders have agreed to waive the role of their organization in the development to the United Nations through the Economic Commission for Africa "ECA".<ref>Al-Kout, Bashir. (1987) "African Unity in the 20 century" :Cairo</ref>

===Far East===
====China====
{{see also|List of famines in China|Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879|Chinese famine of 1928–1930|Chinese famine of 1942–1943}}
[[File:Engraving-FamineRelief-China.gif|thumb|right|[[China|Chinese]] officials engaged in famine relief, 19th-century engraving]]
Chinese scholars had kept count of 1,828 instances of famine from 108&nbsp;BCE to 1911 in one province or another—an average of more than one famine per year.<ref>Walter H. Mallory, ''China: Land of famine'' (1926) p.1</ref> A major famine from 1333 to 1337 killed 6 million. The four famines of 1810, 1811, 1846, and 1849 are said to have killed no fewer than 45 million people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mitosyfraudes.org/Polit/Famines.html|title=FAEC&nbsp;— FEARFUL FAMINES OF THE PAST|website=Mitosyfraudes.org|access-date=1 February 2016|archive-date=15 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415072104/http://www.mitosyfraudes.org/Polit/Famines.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Carol H. Shiue, "The political economy of famine relief in China, 1740–1820." ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'' 36.1 (2005): 33–55. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236806289_The_Political_Economy_of_Famine_Relief_in_China_1740-1820/link/55e55c3308ae6abe6e9047eb/download online]</ref>

China's [[Qing dynasty]] bureaucracy devoted extensive attention to minimizing famines with a network of [[granary|granaries]]. Its famines generally occurred immediately after [[ENSO|El Niño-Southern Oscillation]]-linked droughts and floods. These events are comparable, though somewhat smaller in scale, to the ecological trigger events of China's vast 19th-century famines.<ref>Pierre-Etienne Will, ''Bureaucracy and Famine''</ref> Qing China carried out its relief efforts, which included vast shipments of food, a requirement that the rich open their storehouses to the poor, and price regulation, as part of a state guarantee of subsistence to the peasantry (known as ''ming-sheng''). However the [[Taiping Rebellion]] of the 1850s disrupted the granary relief system such that 1850 to 1873 saw the population of China drop by over 30 million people from early deaths and missing births.<ref>{{Cite web | author=Richard Hooker | date=14 July 1999 | title=Ch'ing China: The Taiping Rebellion | url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CHING/TAIPING.HTM | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414025909/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CHING/TAIPING.HTM | archive-date=14 April 2011}}</ref>

When a stressed monarchy shifted from state management and direct shipments of grain to monetary charity in the mid-19th century, the system broke down. Thus the 1867–68 famine under the [[Tongzhi Restoration]] was successfully relieved but the [[Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879|Great North China Famine]] of 1877–78, caused by drought across northern China, was a catastrophe. The province of [[Shanxi]] was substantially depopulated as grains ran out, and desperately starving people stripped forests, fields, and their very houses for food. Estimated mortality is 9.5 to 13 million people.<ref>[http://www.fao.org/docrep/U8480E/U8480E05.htm Dimensions of need&nbsp;– People and populations at risk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010151615/http://www.fao.org/docrep/U8480E/U8480E05.htm |date=10 October 2017 }}. ''Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations'' (FAO).</ref>

=====Great Leap Forward 1958–1961=====
The largest famine of the 20th century was [[Great Chinese Famine|the 1958–1961 famine]] associated with the [[Great Leap Forward]] in China. The immediate causes of this famine lay in Mao Zedong's ill-fated attempt to transform China from an agricultural nation to an industrial power in one huge leap. Communist Party cadres across China insisted that peasants abandon their farms for collective farms, and begin to produce steel in small foundries, often melting down their farm instruments in the process. Collectivisation undermined incentives for the investment of labor and resources in agriculture; unrealistic plans for decentralized metal production sapped needed labor; unfavorable weather conditions; and communal dining halls encouraged [[overconsumption]] of available food.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chang |first1=Gene Hsin |last2=Wen |first2=Guanzhong James |title=Communal Dining and the Chinese Famine of 1958–1961 |journal=Economic Development and Cultural Change |date=October 1997 |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1086/452319 |s2cid=154835645 }}</ref> Such was the centralized control of information and the intense pressure on party cadres to report only good news—such as [[production quota]]s met or exceeded—that information about the escalating disaster was effectively suppressed. When the leadership did become aware of the scale of the famine, it did little to respond, and continued to ban any discussion of the cataclysm. This blanket suppression of news was so effective that very few Chinese citizens were aware of the scale of the famine, and the greatest peacetime demographic disaster of the 20th century only became widely known twenty years later, when the veil of censorship began to lift.

The exact number of famine deaths during 1958–1961 is difficult to determine, and estimates range from 18 million<ref name=grada9>{{Cite web |last=Gráda |first=Cormac Ó |date=January 2011 |title=Great Leap into Famine |website=ResearchGate |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239810580 |page=9}}</ref> to at least 42 million<ref name=dikotterxii>Dikötter, Frank. ''Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62''. Walker & Company, 2010. p. xii. {{ISBN|0-8027-7768-6}}.</ref> people, with a further 30 million cancelled or delayed births.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smil |first1=V. |title=China's great famine: 40 years later |journal=British Medical Journal |date=18 December 1999 |volume=319 |issue=7225 |pages=1619–1621 |doi=10.1136/bmj.319.7225.1619 |pmid=10600969 |pmc=1127087 }}</ref> It was only when the famine had wrought its worst that Mao reversed agricultural collectivisation policies, which were effectively dismantled in 1978. China has not experienced a famine of the proportions of the Great Leap Forward since 1961.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Woo |first1=Meredith Jung-En |author-link1=Meredith Jung-En Woo |title=Neoliberalism and Institutional Reform in East Asia: A Comparative Study |date=2007 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-59034-2 }}{{page needed|date=April 2019}}</ref>

====Japan====
[[Japan]] experienced more than 130 famines between 1603 and 1868.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Ps-IesBlzkC&pg=PA312|title=Local Agrarian Societies in Colonial India: Japanese Perspectives|first1=Kaoru|last1=Sugihara|first2=Peter G.|last2=Robb|first3=Haruka|last3=Yanagisawa|date=27 July 1996|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780700704712|via=Google Books|access-date=15 November 2015|archive-date=16 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916142023/https://books.google.com/books?id=2Ps-IesBlzkC&pg=PA312|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Cambodia====
[[File:Choeungek2.JPG|thumb|Skulls of [[Khmer Rouge]] murder victims at [[Choeung Ek]]]]
In 1975, the [[Khmer Rouge]] took control of Cambodia. The new government was led by [[Pol Pot]], who desired to turn Cambodia into a communist, agrarian utopia. His regime emptied the cities, abolished currency and private property, and forced Cambodia's population into slavery on communal farms. In less than four years, the Khmer Rouge had executed nearly 1.4 million people, mostly those believed to be a threat to the new ideology.

Due to the failure of the Khmer Rouge's agrarian reform policies, Cambodia experienced widespread famine. As many as one million more died from starvation, disease, and exhaustion resulting from these policies.<ref>Shawcross, William, ''The Quality of Mercy: Cambodia, Holocaust and Modern Conscience'', Touchstone, 1985, pp. 115–116.</ref><ref name="kaplan">Kaplan, Robert D., ''The Ends of the Earth'', Vintage, 1996, p. 406.</ref> In 1979 Vietnam invaded Cambodia and removed the Khmer Rouge from power. By that time about one quarter of Cambodia's population had been killed.

====North Korean famine in the 1990s====
[[North Korean famine|Famine struck North Korea in the mid-1990s]], set off by unprecedented floods. This [[Autarky|autarkic]] [[Urban area|urban]], industrial state depended on massive inputs of subsidised goods, including fossil fuels, primarily from the Soviet Union and the [[People's Republic of China]]. When the Soviet collapse and China's marketization switched trade to a hard currency, full-price basis, North Korea's economy collapsed. The vulnerable agricultural sector experienced a massive failure in 1995–96, expanding to full-fledged famine by 1996–1999.

Estimates based on the North Korean census suggest that 240,000 to 420,000 people died as a result of the famine and that there were 600,000 to 850,000 unnatural deaths in North Korea from 1993 to 2008.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spoorenberg |first1=Thomas |last2=Schwekendiek |first2=Daniel |title=Demographic Changes in North Korea: 1993–2008 |journal=Population and Development Review |volume=38 |issue=1 |date=March 2012 |pages=133–58 |doi=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00475.x|hdl=10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00475.x |hdl-access=free }}</ref> North Korea has not yet regained food self-sufficiency and relies on external [[food aid]] from [[China]], [[Japan]], [[South Korea]], [[Russia]] and the [[United States]]. While Woo-Cumings have focused on the FAD side of the famine, Moon argues that FAD shifted the incentive structure of the authoritarian regime to react in a way that forced millions of disenfranchised people to starve to death.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moon |first1=William J. |title=The Origins of the Great North Korean Famine: Its Dynamics and Normative Implications |journal=North Korean Review |date=2009 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=105–122 |jstor=43910265 |ssrn=1580198 |doi=10.3172/NKR.5.1.105 }}</ref>

According to the [[United Nations|UN's]] [[Food and Agriculture Organization|Food and Agriculture Organisation]] (FAO), North Korea is facing a serious cereal shortfall in 2017 after the country's crop harvest was diminished as a result of severe drought.{{Update inline|date=May 2024}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/08528568-6dc5-11e7-bfeb-33fe0c5b7eaa |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/08528568-6dc5-11e7-bfeb-33fe0c5b7eaa |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-status=live|title=North Korea faces worst drought since 2001|work=Financial Times|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The FAO estimated that early-season production fell by over 30 percent compared to agricultural output from the previous year, leading to the country's worst famine since 2001.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-koreans-undernourished-in-worst-drought-in-16-years-20170721-gxfqz8.html|title=North Koreans undernourished, in worst drought in 16 years|last=Seabrook|first=Ben|date=21 July 2017|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=21 July 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=22 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722114036/http://www.smh.com.au/world/north-koreans-undernourished-in-worst-drought-in-16-years-20170721-gxfqz8.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Vietnam====
[[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] occupation during [[World War II]] caused the [[Vietnamese Famine of 1945]], which caused around 700,000 to 2,000,000 deaths.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=HUFF|first=GREGG|title=Causes and consequences of the Great Vietnam Famine, 1944–5|journal=The Economic History Review|language=en|doi=10.1111/ehr.12741|issn=1468-0289|year=2018|volume=72|pages=286–316|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===India===
{{Main|Famine in India}}
{{See also|Timeline of major famines in India during British rule}}
Owing to its almost entire dependence upon the [[monsoon]] rains, India is vulnerable to crop failures, which upon occasion deepen into famine.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Famine |display=Famine § Famines in India |volume=10 |page=176}}</ref> There were 14 famines in [[History of India|India]] between the 11th and 17th centuries (Bhatia, 1985). For example, during the 1022–1033 Great famines in India entire provinces were depopulated. Famine in [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] killed at least two million people in 1702–1704. B.M. Bhatia believes that the earlier famines were localised, and it was only after 1860, during the [[British Raj|British rule]], that famine came to signify general shortage of foodgrains in the country. There were approximately 25 major famines spread through states such as [[Tamil Nadu]] in the south, and [[Bihar]] and [[Bengal]] in the east during the latter half of the 19th century.

[[File:India-famine-family-crop-420.jpg|thumb|Victims of the Great Famine of 1876–78 in India during British rule, pictured in 1877.]]
[[Romesh Chunder Dutt]] argued as early as 1900, and present-day scholars such as [[Amartya Sen]] agree, that some historic famines were a product of both uneven rainfall and British economic and administrative policies, which since 1857 had led to the seizure and conversion of local farmland to foreign-owned plantations, restrictions on internal trade, heavy taxation of Indian citizens to support British expeditions in [[Afghanistan]] (see [[European influence in Afghanistan#Second Anglo-Afghan War|The Second Anglo-Afghan War]]), inflationary measures that increased the price of food, and substantial exports of staple crops from India to Britain. (Dutt, 1900 and 1902; Srivastava, 1968; Sen, 1982; Bhatia, 1985.)

Some British citizens, such as [[William Digby (writer)|William Digby]], agitated for policy reforms and famine relief, but [[Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton|Lord Lytton]], the governing British viceroy in India, opposed such changes in the belief that they would stimulate shirking by Indian workers. The first, the [[Bengal famine of 1770]], is estimated to have taken around 10 million lives—one-third of Bengal's population at the time. Other notable famines include the [[Great Famine of 1876–1878]], in which 6.1 million to 10.3 million people died<ref name=mikedavis7>Davis, Mike. ''[[Late Victorian Holocausts]]''. 1. Verso, 2000. {{ISBN|1-85984-739-0}} p. 7</ref> and the [[Indian famine of 1899–1900]], in which 1.25 to 10 million people died.<ref name=mikedavis173>Davis, Mike. Late Victorian Holocausts. 1. Verso, 2000. {{ISBN|1-85984-739-0}} p. 173</ref> The famines were ended by the 20th century with the exception of the [[Bengal famine of 1943]] killing an estimated 2.1 million Bengalis during [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dyson |first1=Tim |last2=Maharatna |first2=Arup |date=September 1991 |title=Excess mortality during the Great Bengal Famine: A Re-evaluation |journal=The Indian Economic and Social History Review |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=281–97 |doi=10.1177/001946469102800303 |s2cid=143627077 }}</ref>

The observations of the Famine Commission of 1880 support the notion that food distribution is more to blame for famines than food scarcity. They observed that each province in [[British India]], including [[British Burma|Burma]], had a surplus of foodgrains, and the annual surplus was 5.16 million tons (Bhatia, 1970). At that time, annual export of rice and other grains from India was approximately one million tons.

{{blockquote|Population growth worsened the plight of the peasantry. As a result of peace and improved sanitation and health, the Indian population rose from perhaps 100 million in 1700 to 300 million by 1920. While encouraging agricultural productivity, the British also provided economic incentives to have more children to help in the fields. Although a similar population increase occurred in Europe at the same time, the growing numbers could be absorbed by industrialization or emigration to the Americas and Australia. India enjoyed neither an industrial revolution nor an increase in food growing. Moreover, Indian landlords had a stake in the cash crop system and discouraged innovation. As a result, population numbers far outstripped the amount of available food and land, creating dire poverty and widespread hunger.|Craig A. Lockard, ''Societies, Networks, and Transitions''<ref>Craig A. Lockard (2010). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IVvnrsaIgA8C Societies, Networks, and Transitions]'', Volume 3. Cengage Learning. p. 610. {{ISBN|1-4390-8534-X}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164813/https://books.google.com/books?id=IVvnrsaIgA8C |date=26 March 2023 }}</ref>}}

The Maharashtra drought saw zero deaths from starvation and is known for the successful employment of famine prevention policies, unlike during British rule.<ref>{{cite book|title=Climate and Food Security: Papers Presented at the International Symposium on Climate Variability and Food Security in Developing Countries|date=1987|publisher=International Rice Research Institute|isbn=978-971-10-4210-3|page=379|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2bPFK22-GYC&q=maharashtra|access-date=31 October 2014|ref=American Association for the Advancement of Science, Indian National Science Academy, International Rice Research Institute, Indian Council of Agricultural Research|archive-date=16 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916142024/https://books.google.com/books?id=O2bPFK22-GYC&q=maharashtra|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Middle East===
[[File:Mother and child during the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon 1.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|A starving woman and child during the [[Assyrian genocide]]. Ottoman Empire, 1915]]
The [[Persian famine of 1870–1872]] is believed to have caused the death of 1.5 million persons (20–25% of the population) in [[Persia]] (present-day Iran).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yeroushalmi |first=David |title=The Jews of Iran in the nineteenth century: aspects of history, community |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYlGS3s3zTQC&pg=PA327 |publisher=Brill |year=2009 |page=327 |isbn=978-90-04-15288-5 |access-date=15 November 2015 |archive-date=16 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916142025/https://books.google.com/books?id=XYlGS3s3zTQC&pg=PA327 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the early 20th century an Ottoman blockade of food being exported to [[Lebanon]] caused a famine which killed up to 450,000 Lebanese (about one-third of the population). The famine killed more people than the [[Lebanese Civil War]]. The blockade was caused by uprisings in the Syrian region of the Empire, including one which occurred in the 1860s which led to the massacre of thousands of Lebanese and Syrian by Ottoman Turks and local [[Druze]].<ref>Christoffel Anthonie Olivier Nieuwenhuijze (1977). ''Commoners, Climbers and Notables: A Sampler of Studies on Social Ranking in the Middle East''. Brill Archive ISBN. p. 213. {{ISBN|90-04-05065-5}}</ref>

===Europe===
====Middle Ages====
{{Further|Medieval demography|Crisis of the Late Middle Ages|The General Crisis}}
The [[Great Famine of 1315–1317]] (or to 1322) was the first major food crisis to strike Europe in the 14th century. Millions in northern Europe died over an extended number of years, marking a clear end to the earlier period of growth and prosperity during the 11th and 12th centuries.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=R688at3KskQC&pg=PA49 | title = The Story of Ireland | author = Brian Igoe | date = 2009 | page = 49 | access-date = 15 November 2015 | archive-date = 16 September 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230916142031/https://books.google.com/books?id=R688at3KskQC&pg=PA49 | url-status = live }}</ref> An unusually cold and wet spring of 1315 led to widespread crop failures, which lasted until at least the summer of 1317; some regions in Europe did not fully recover until 1322. Most nobles, cities, and states were slow to respond to the crisis and when they realized its severity, they had little success in securing food for their people. In 1315, in [[Norfolk]], [[England]], the price of grain soared from 5 shillings/quarter to 20 shillings/quarter.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=o8ea33eCFQgC&q=great+wave+great+famine+inflation&pg=PA23 | author = David Hackett Fischer | author-link = David Hackett Fischer | title = The Great Wave | page = 38 | isbn = 9780195121216 | year = 1999 | publisher = Oxford University Press | access-date = 17 October 2020 | archive-date = 16 September 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230916142030/https://books.google.com/books?id=o8ea33eCFQgC&q=great+wave+great+famine+inflation&pg=PA23 | url-status = live }}</ref> It was a period marked by extreme levels of criminal activity, disease and mass death, infanticide, and cannibalism. It had consequences for Church, State, European society and future calamities to follow in the 14th century. There were 95 famines in [[medieval Britain]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3609390/Poor-studies-will-always-be-with-us.html |title=Poor studies will always be with us |website=Telegraph.co.uk |date=8 August 2004 |access-date=1 February 2016 |last1=Bartholomew |first1=James |archive-date=1 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301084104/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3609390/Poor-studies-will-always-be-with-us.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and 75 or more in medieval France.<ref>{{cite web |last=Basu |first=Kaushik |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/201392/famine |title=famine |website=Britannica.com |access-date=1 February 2016 |archive-date=7 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507160730/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/201392/famine |url-status=live }}</ref> More than 10% of England's population, or at least 500,000 people, may have died during the famine of 1315–1316.<ref name="famine">{{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/savagewarsofpeac0000macf | url-access = registration | title = The savage wars of peace: England, Japan and the Malthusian trap | publisher = Wiley | author = Alan Macfarlane | date = 1997 | page = [https://archive.org/details/savagewarsofpeac0000macf/page/66 66] | isbn = 978-0-631-18117-0}}</ref>

Famine was a very destabilizing and devastating occurrence. The prospect of starvation led people to take desperate measures. When scarcity of food became apparent to peasants, they would sacrifice long-term prosperity for short-term survival. They would kill their [[draught animal]]s, leading to lowered production in subsequent years. They would eat their seed corn, sacrificing next year's crop in the hope that more seed could be found. Once those means had been exhausted, they would take to the road in search of food. They migrated to the cities where merchants from other areas would be more likely to sell their food, as cities had a stronger purchasing power than did rural areas. Cities also administered relief programs and bought grain for their populations so that they could keep order. With the confusion and desperation of the migrants, crime would often follow them. Many peasants resorted to banditry in order to acquire enough to eat.

One famine would often lead to difficulties in the following years because of lack of seed stock or disruption of routine, or perhaps because of less-available labour. Famines were often interpreted as signs of God's displeasure. They were seen as the removal, by God, of His gifts to the people of the Earth. Elaborate religious processions and rituals were made to prevent God's wrath in the form of famine.

====16th century====
[[File:Goya-Guerra (59).jpg|thumb|An engraving from [[Francisco Goya|Goya]]'s ''[[Disasters of War]]'', showing starving women, doubtless inspired by the terrible famine that struck [[Madrid]] in 1811–1812.]]
During the 15th century to the 18th century, famines in Europe became more frequent due to the [[Little Ice Age]]. The colder climate resulted in harvest failures and shortfalls that led to a rise in [[conspiracy theories]] concerning the causes behind these famines, such as the [[Pacte de Famine]] in France.<ref>Kaplan, Steven. ''The Famine Plot Persuasion in Eighteenth-Century France''. Pennsylvania: Diane Publishing Co, 1982. {{ISBN|0-87169-723-8}}</ref>

The 1590s saw the worst famines in centuries across all of Europe. Famine had been relatively rare during the 16th century. The economy and population had grown steadily as subsistence populations tend to when there is an extended period of relative peace (most of the time). Although peasants in areas of high population density, such as northern Italy, had learned to increase the yields of their lands through techniques such as promiscuous culture, they were still quite vulnerable to famines, forcing them to work their land even more intensively.

The great famine of the 1590s began a period of famine and decline in the 17th century. The price of [[grain]], all over Europe was high, as was the population. Various types of people were vulnerable to the succession of bad harvests that occurred throughout the 1590s in different regions. The increasing number of wage labourers in the countryside were vulnerable because they had no food of their own, and their meager living was not enough to purchase the expensive grain of a bad-crop year. Town labourers were also at risk because their wages would be insufficient to cover the cost of grain, and, to make matters worse, they often received less money in bad-crop years since the disposable income of the wealthy was spent on grain. Often, [[unemployment]] would be the result of the increase in grain prices, leading to ever-increasing numbers of urban poor.

All areas of Europe were badly affected by the famine in these periods, especially rural areas. The Netherlands was able to escape most of the damaging effects of the famine, though the 1590s were still difficult years there. [[Amsterdam]]'s [[grain trade]] with the [[Baltic region|Baltic]] guaranteed a food supply.

====17th century====
The years around 1620 saw another period of famine sweep across Europe. These famines were generally less severe than the famines of twenty-five years earlier, but they were nonetheless quite serious in many areas. Perhaps the worst famine since 1600, the great famine in [[Finland]] in 1696, killed one-third of the population.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.euro.who.int/document/peh-ehp/nehapfin.pdf |title= FINNISH ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ACTION PLAN |website=www.euro.who.int |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009053403/http://www.euro.who.int/document/peh-ehp/nehapfin.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2009}}</ref>

Devastating harvest failures afflicted the northern Italian economy from 1618 to 1621, and it did not recover fully for centuries. There were serious famines in the late-1640s and less severe ones in the 1670s throughout northern Italy.

Over two million people died in two famines in France between 1693 and 1710. Both famines were made worse by ongoing wars.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ó Gráda |first1=Cormac |last2=Chevet |first2=Jean-Michel |year=2002 |title=Famine And Market In ''Ancient Régime'' France |journal=The Journal of Economic History |pmid=17494233 |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=706–33 |doi=10.1017/S0022050702001055 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |hdl=10197/368 |s2cid=8036361 |url=https://researchrepository.ucd.ie/bitstream/10197/368/3/ogradac_article_pub_039.pdf |hdl-access=free |access-date=23 September 2019 |archive-date=23 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923121948/https://researchrepository.ucd.ie/bitstream/10197/368/3/ogradac_article_pub_039.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Starvation image from Fäderneslandet 1867.jpg|thumb|upright=0.95|Illustration of starvation in northern Sweden, [[Swedish famine of 1867–1869]]]]
As late as the 1690s, Scotland experienced famine which reduced the population of parts of Scotland by at least 15%.<ref>{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Michael |title=Population change in North-western Europe, 1750–1850 |publisher=Macmillan Education |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-333-34386-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/populationchange0000ande/page/9 9] |url=https://archive.org/details/populationchange0000ande/page/9 }}</ref>

The [[Great Famine of Finland (1695–1697)|Great Famine of 1695–1697]] may have killed a third of the Finnish population.<ref>[http://countrystudies.us/finland/9.htm "Finland and the Swedish Empire"]. ''Federal Research Division, [[Library of Congress]]''. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009181052/http://countrystudies.us/finland/9.htm |date=9 October 2017 }}</ref> and roughly 10% of [[Norway]]'s population.<ref>Karen J. Cullen (2010). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=RiLjHZdt-sMC&pg=PA20 Famine in Scotland: The 'Ill Years' of the 1690s]''. Edinburgh University Press. p. 20. {{ISBN|0-7486-3887-3}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916142030/https://books.google.com/books?id=RiLjHZdt-sMC&pg=PA20 |date=16 September 2023 }}</ref> Death rates rose in Scandinavia between 1740 and 1800 as the result of a series of crop failures.<ref>Alan Macfarlane (1997). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eGsCGAdH4YQC&pg=PA63 The savage wars of peace: England, Japan and the Malthusian trap]''. p. 63. {{ISBN|0-631-18117-2}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128101941/https://books.google.com/books?id=eGsCGAdH4YQC&pg=PA63 |date=28 January 2022 }}</ref> For instance, the [[Finnish famine of 1866–1868]] killed 15% of the population.

====18th century====
The period of 1740–1743 saw frigid winters and summer droughts, which led to famine across [[Europe]] and a major spike in mortality.<ref>Davis, ''Late Victorian Holocausts'', p. 281.</ref> The winter 1740–41 was unusually cold, possibly because of volcanic activity.<ref>Cormac Ó Gráda (2009). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=LoN2XkjJio4C&pg=PA18 Famine: a short history]''. Princeton University Press. p. 18. {{ISBN|0-691-12237-7}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164808/https://books.google.com/books?id=LoN2XkjJio4C&pg=PA18 |date=26 March 2023 }}</ref>

According to Scott and Duncan (2002), "Eastern Europe experienced more than 150 recorded famines between AD 1500 and 1700 and there were 100 hunger years and 121 famine years in Russia between AD 971 and 1974."<ref>Susan Scott, Christopher John Duncan (2002). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=BME8WHMQpNIC Demography and nutrition: evidence from historical and contemporary populations]''. John Wiley and Sons. p. 45. {{ISBN|0-632-05983-4}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164808/https://books.google.com/books?id=BME8WHMQpNIC |date=26 March 2023 }}</ref>

The [[Famines in Czech lands|Great Famine]], which lasted from 1770 until 1771, killed about one tenth of [[Czech lands]]' population, or 250,000 inhabitants, and radicalised countrysides leading to peasant uprisings.<ref>E. E. Rich, C. H. Wilson, M. M. Postan (1977). ''The Cambridge economic history of Europe: The economic organization of early modern Europe''. p. 614. {{ISBN|0-521-08710-4}}</ref>

There were sixteen good harvests and 111 famine years in northern Italy from 1451 to 1767.<ref>Alan Macfarlane (1997). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eGsCGAdH4YQC&pg=PA64 The savage wars of peace: England, Japan and the Malthusian trap]''. p. 64. {{ISBN|0-631-18117-2}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916142602/https://books.google.com/books?id=eGsCGAdH4YQC&pg=PA64 |date=16 September 2023 }}</ref> According to Stephen L. Dyson and Robert J. Rowland, "The Jesuits of [[Cagliari]] [in Sardinia] recorded years during the late 1500s 'of such hunger and so sterile that the majority of the people could sustain life only with wild ferns and other weeds'&nbsp;... During the terrible famine of 1680, some 80,000 persons, out of a total population of 250,000, are said to have died, and entire villages were devastated".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dyson |first1=Stephen L. |last2=Rowland |first2=Robert J. |title=Archaeology and history in Sardinia from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages: shepherds, sailors & conquerors |publisher=UPenn Museum of Archaeology, 2007 |location=Philadelphia |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-934536-02-5 |page=136}}</ref>

According to [[Reid Bryson|Bryson]] (1974), there were thirty-seven famine years in Iceland between 1500 and 1804.<ref>Henry Oliver Lancaster (1990). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=T4DLK7zLxYMC&pg=PA399 Expectations of life: a study in the demography, statistics, and history of world mortality]''. [[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]. p. 399. {{ISBN|0-387-97105-X}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512203839/http://books.google.com/books?id=T4DLK7zLxYMC&pg=PA399 |date=12 May 2015 }}</ref> In 1783 the volcano [[Laki (volcano)|Laki]] in south-central [[Iceland]] erupted. The lava caused little direct damage, but ash and sulphur dioxide spewed out over most of the country, causing three-quarters of the island's livestock to perish. In the following famine, around ten thousand people died, one-fifth of the population of [[Iceland]]. [Asimov, 1984, 152–53]{{full citation needed|date=August 2020}}

====19th century====
[[File:Irish potato famine Bridget O'Donnel.jpg|thumb|Depiction of victims of the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] in Ireland, 1845–1849]]
Other areas of Europe have known famines much more recently. France saw famines as recently as the 19th century. The [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]] in Ireland, 1846–1851, caused by the failure of the potato crop over a few years, resulted in 1,000,000 dead and another 2,000,000 refugees fleeing to Britain, Australia and the United States.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rubinstein |first=W. D. |title=Genocide: a history |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMMAk4VwLLwC&pg=PA85 |publisher=Pearson Education |year=2004 |page=85 |isbn=978-0-582-50601-5 |access-date=15 November 2015 |archive-date=16 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916142527/https://books.google.com/books?id=nMMAk4VwLLwC&pg=PA85 |url-status=live }}</ref>

====20th century====
Famine still occurred in [[Eastern Europe]] during the 20th century. Droughts and famines in [[Imperial Russia]] are known to have happened every 10 to 13 years, with average droughts happening every 5 to 7 years. Russia experienced eleven major famines between 1845 and 1922, one of the worst being the [[Russian famine of 1891–1892|famine of 1891–1892]].<ref>[[Alan Macfarlane]]. "[http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/savage/A-FAM.PDF The Dimension of Famine]" (PDF). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517095451/http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/savage/A-FAM.PDF |date=17 May 2011 }}</ref> The [[Russian famine of 1921–22]] killed an estimated 5 million.
[[File:No-nb bldsa 6a030.jpg|thumb|Victims of the [[Russian famine of 1921–1922]] during the [[Russian Civil War]]]]

[[Famines in Russia and USSR|Famines continued]] in the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] era, the most notorious being the ''[[Holodomor]]'' in various parts of the country, especially the [[Volga Region|Volga]], and the Ukrainian and northern [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] SSR's during the winter of 1932–1933. The [[Soviet famine of 1932–1933]] is nowadays reckoned to have cost an estimated 6 million lives.<ref>Stéphane Courtois, Mark Kramer. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA206 Livre noir du Communisme: crimes, terreur, répression] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230916142527/https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC&pg=PA206 |date=16 September 2023 }}''. Harvard University Press, 1999. p. 206. {{ISBN|0-674-07608-7}}</ref> The [[Soviet Famine of 1947|last major famine]] in the USSR happened in 1947 due to the severe [[drought]] and the mismanagement of grain reserves by the Soviet government.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ellman |first1=Michael |s2cid=45613622 |title=The 1947 Soviet famine and the entitlement approach to famines |journal=Cambridge Journal of Economics |date=1 September 2000 |volume=24 |issue=5 |pages=603–30 |doi=10.1093/cje/24.5.603 }}</ref>

The [[Hunger Plan]], i.e. the Nazi plan to starve large sections of the Soviet population, caused the deaths of many. The Russian Academy of Sciences in 1995 reported civilian victims in the USSR at German hands, including Jews, totaled 13.7 million dead, 20% of the 68 million persons in the occupied USSR. This included 4.1 million famine and disease deaths in occupied territory. There were an additional estimated 3 million famine deaths in areas of the USSR not under German occupation.<ref>The Russian Academy of Science Rossiiskaia Akademiia nauk. ''Liudskie poteri SSSR v period vtoroi mirovoi voiny: sbornik statei''. Saint Petersburg 1995 {{ISBN|5-86789-023-6}}</ref>

The 872 days of the [[Siege of Leningrad]] (1941–1944) caused unparalleled famine in the Leningrad region through disruption of utilities, water, energy and food supplies. This resulted in the deaths of about one million people.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=24841 |work=[[The St. Petersburg Times (Russia)|The St. Petersburg Times]] | title=Last Battle of Siege of Leningrad Re-Enacted |first=Irina |last=Titova |date=29 January 2008 |access-date=1 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140818002907/http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=24841 |archive-date=18 August 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Famine also struck in [[Western Europe]] during the [[Second World War]]. In the Netherlands, the {{Lang|nl|[[Dutch famine of 1944|Hongerwinter]]}} of 1944 killed approximately 30,000 people. Some other areas of Europe also experienced famine at the same time.

===Latin America===
[[File:Icon1 4 7.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Malnourished child during Brazil's 1877–78 ''Grande Seca'' (Great Drought).]]
The [[pre-Columbian]] Americans often dealt with severe food shortages and famines.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_PFSc4kCyxcC&pg=PA190 Technology, Disease, and Colonial Conquests, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries: Essays Reappraising the Guns and Germs Theories]''. George Raudzens (2003). Brill. p. 190. {{ISBN|0-391-04206-8}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164807/https://books.google.com/books?id=_PFSc4kCyxcC&pg=PA190 |date=26 March 2023 }}</ref> The persistent drought around 850 AD coincided with the collapse of [[Classic Maya collapse|Classic Maya]] civilization, and the famine of One Rabbit (AD 1454) was a major catastrophe in [[Pre-Columbian Mexico|Mexico]].<ref>Richardson Benedict Gill (2000). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=DRt5RnlBTq0C&pg=PA123 The great Maya droughts: water, life, and death]''. UNM Press. p. 123. {{ISBN|0-8263-2774-5}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164807/https://books.google.com/books?id=DRt5RnlBTq0C&pg=PA123 |date=26 March 2023 }}</ref>

[[Brazil]]'s 1877–78 ''[[Grande Seca]]'' (Great Drought), the worst in Brazil's history,<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Anastácio Q. |last1=Sousa |first2=Richard |last2=Pearson |title=Drought, Smallpox, and Emergence of Leishmania braziliensis in Northeastern Brazil |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |year=2009 |volume=15 |issue=6 |pages=916–921 |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) |doi=10.3201/eid1506.071331 |pmid=19523291 |pmc=2727349 }}</ref> caused approximately half a million deaths.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8857.html |title=Sample Chapter for Ó Gráda, C.: Famine: A Short History |website=Press.princeton.edu |date=6 February 2009 |access-date=1 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112061115/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8857.html |archive-date=12 January 2016}}</ref> The one from 1915 was devastating too.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/W8514E/W8514E29.htm|title=Inland fishery enhancements|website=www.fao.org|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=6 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306225557/http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/W8514E/W8514E29.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Oceania===
[[Easter Island]] was hit by a great famine between the 15th and 18th centuries. Hunger and subsequent cannibalism was caused by overpopulation and depletion of natural resources as a result of deforestation, partly because work on megalithic monuments required a lot of wood.<ref>Bo Rothstein (2005). ''Social traps and the problem of trust''. Cambridge University Press. p. 20. {{ISBN|0-521-84829-6}}</ref>

There are other documented episodes of famine in various islands of Polynesia, such as occurred in [[Kau, Hawaii]] in 1868.<ref>Patrick Vinton Kirch (1989). ''The Evolution of the Polynesian Chiefdoms''. Cambridge University Press. p.</ref>

According to Daniel Lord Smail, {{"'}}Famine [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]]' was until recently a regular feature of life in the islands of the [[Milne Bay Province|Massim]] near [[New Guinea]] and of some other societies of Southeast Asia and the Pacific."<ref>Andrew Shryock, Daniel Lord Smail (2011). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mombkmEiZg0C Deep History: The Architecture of Past and Present]''. University of California Press. p. 139. {{ISBN|0-520-27028-2}}. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164807/https://books.google.com/books?id=mombkmEiZg0C |date=26 March 2023 }}</ref>

When Russian explorer [[Otto von Kotzebue]] visited the [[Marshall Islands]] in Micronesia in 1817, he noted that Marshallese families practiced [[infanticide]] after the birth of a third child as a form of [[Human population planning|population planning]] due to frequent famines.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hezel |first=Francis X. |date=1983 |title=The First Taint of Civilization: A History of the Caroline and Marshall Islands in Pre-colonial Days, 1521–1885 |series=Pacific Islands Monograph Series |location=Honolulu |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |pages=92–94 |isbn=9780824816438}}</ref>