How is famine officially defined?

Question

I keep seeing news reports that northern Gaza might soon tip into famine, but there are already people starving there so how is it not already famine?

In: Other

Answer 1

So, different groups try to actually statistically qualify what a “famine” is. The one I’ve seen is from the IPC (a food-focused NGO). The three requirements are at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages, and at least 30% of people are suffering acute malnutrition, and the “crude death rate” must exceed 2 people per 10,000 per day.

Meet all three, and you’ve got yourself a famine. Missing one, and you’ve still got a big problem of some kind, but not a famine.