An indicator of inadequate dietary energy intake (based on FAO’s definition of hunger, characterized as consuming less than a minimum level of kilocalories) that is assessed at the population level using national food balance sheets to determine the supply of dietary energy available to a given population and modeling of how that energy is distributed across the population. As of 2014, one in nine people in the world are undernourished.
UNICEF website, [What is undernutrition?](http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2006n4/index_undernutrition.html) (14.7.2016).
The term undernutrition is defined as the outcome of insufficient food intake (hunger) and repeated infectious diseases. Undernutrition includes being underweight for one’s age, too short for one’s age (stunted), dangerously thin (wasted), and deficient in vitamins and minerals (micronutrient malnutrition). The term malnutrition refers to both undernutrition and overnutrition.
World Food Programme website, [Hungar Glossary ](https://www.wfp.org/hunger/glossary)(14.7.2016).