Chronic Hunger vs Seasonal Hunger: Difference and Comparison

The term hunger is equivalent to a painful sensation in the stomach due to lack of food or exhaustion from the want of food.

Food crops are grown in the villages, and if the farms are wiped out by a flood both the rural and urban people would suffer from hunger. Chronic and Seasonal are two types of hunger that affect the people in this condition.

Key Takeaways

1. Chronic hunger is the persistent, long-term lack of adequate food, leading to malnutrition and related health issues. In contrast, seasonal hunger occurs due to fluctuations in food availability throughout the year, caused by agricultural cycles.
2. Chronic hunger is a global issue affecting millions, whereas seasonal hunger is more region-specific and depends on local factors.
3. Addressing chronic hunger requires long-term solutions, such as poverty alleviation and food security initiatives, while seasonal hunger can be mitigated through agricultural planning and improved food storage and distribution.

Chronic Hunger vs Seasonal Hunger

Chronic hunger refers to long-term, persistent hunger that results from a lack of access to sufficient food on a daily basis and can lead to malnutrition.  Seasonal hunger occurs during specific times of the year when food supplies are scarce due to environmental factors such as droughts or floods.

Chronic Hunger refers to a long-term undernourishment state.

In this state, the body absorbs less food than it requires. Although the media only shows reports about the acute hunger crisis, chronic hunger, till today: is the most widespread hunger crisis worldwide.

It is connected with poverty as poor people don’t have money to afford proper food for themselves.

Seasonal hunger is a state that happens when the food growing and its harvesting is affected. Seasonal hunger; is commonly mostly; because of seasonal agricultural activities in rural areas and casual areas in urban areas.

For example. During the rainy season, there is less work for construction labor.

This hunger exists when a person is unemployed for an entire year.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Chronic Hunger	Seasonal Hunger
Definition	Inadequate diet in terms of quantity and quality leads to chronic hunger.	The cycle of food growing and harvesting is affected by climatic changes.
Prevalent	Poor people	Both urban and rural areas
Occurs	It occurs to a person who doesn’t have enough money.	It occurs in a community of people.
Pattern	It leads to death.	It persists year after year.
Time	It is permanent.	It is temporary.

What is Chronic Hunger?

Chronic hunger refers to a state of a person who stays malnourished for a long time. Although this type of hunger problem is never telecasted on any media, it affects the maximum population worldwide.

Chronic hunger is related to poverty. People suffering from chronic hunger: are those who don’t have enough money to buy nutritious food, clean water, or health facilities.

When a person has an unbalanced diet: in which necessary nutrients such as vitamin A, iodine, zinc, and iron are lacking.

In the initial days, the consequences may not be visible, but after some time, the lack of nutrients may develop and lead to fatal conditions; due to the unidentifiable nature of this condition: this type of hunger issue is named hidden hunger.

Children with this condition are not able to develop properly: neither mentally nor physically. In every thirteen seconds, a child somewhere dies due to hunger.

More than 811 million people sleep without having food in their systems.

The death rate associated with chronic hunger is high. More than two billion people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger; and nutrient deficiency, including in developed and industrialized counties.

It affects individuals and is also potent enough to forbid the development of the area from being affected as the productivity and health condition of the people decreases.

What is Seasonal Hunger?

Seasonal hunger refers to the hunger caused by the lack of food production and its harvest.

Globally most cases of acute hunger happen: not because of conflicts and natural disasters; but because of the annual hunger season: also known as seasonal hunger.

It occurs during the time of the year when the last year’s crops and harvest have been diminished.

The food prices increase, and jobs are not enough. More than six hundred million people are either landless laborers or a member of the small farm family.

These people live in a place; where there is insufficient water supply and temperature constraints, which allows them to grow only one crop per year.

This poverty population is controlled by: the seasonal cycle of nature, which is worst, especially in the pre-harvest months.

During this time, food stocks stored from the last year’s harvest run out, production of food crops reduces, insufficient storage facilities and debt altogether force the family to sell or use their products before the new harvest.

Most of the families of the poor rural communities are affected; the mutual support networks are weakened. The lack of household food levels is equal to the shortage of the economic level.

Because of this, the prices of the food at the open market increase drastically during seasonal hunger seasons.

Main Differences Between Chronic Hunger and Seasonal Hunger

1. Chronic Hunger is a state caused because of inadequate diet in terms of quality and quantity. On the other hand, seasonal hunger is caused; due by the climatic considered affecting the crops and harvest of the previous year.
2. People with financial disabilities suffer from chronic hunger. On the other hand, people of rural as well as urban areas; suffer from seasonal hunger.
3. Chronic Hunger: affects people when they fail to earn money to provide food for themselves. On the other hand, seasonal hunger affects a community at certain times of the year.
4. As the name suggests, chronic hunger continues for a long time and sometimes leads to death. On the other hand, seasonal hunger comes every year.
5. Chronic hunger is a permanent problem. On the other hand, seasonal hunger is temporary.

References 

1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220388.2017.1371296
2. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BI7ABKivCT0C&oi=fnd&pg=PA179&dq=chronic+hunger&ots=m2HRtWcqsc&sig=yjPbcPwZYWKgPd_u1JxXsA3vhxs

Last Updated : 25 July, 2023