Report: Hunger, starvation has claimed over 90,000 Mexican lives since 2001

According to mortality statistics by the National Institute for Statistics and Geography, over 90,000 Mexicans died from starvation or malnutrition between 2001 and 2011. That includes 85,343 deaths between 2001 and 2010 and an additional 7,977 in 2011. It is an epidemic largely unknown to most Americans, although it would explain the massive flood of Mexican families north in search of jobs and opportunity to feed their families.

According to WorldLifeExpectancy.com, which tracks global health statistics, one out of every 100,000 Americans die each year due to hunger or malnutrition, mostly due to abuse. In Mexico, the average is 13.4 people out of every 100,000.

While most Americans focus on the overwhelming drug violence in the country, statistics show that hunger kills almost twice as many Mexican citizens as the guns of the drug cartels. The problem of hunger is most prevalent in the southern rural areas of Mexico, far away from the resort cities frequented by Americans, and even farther from the border towns overrun with drug violence.

Statistics show thousands more die each year of malformations and other physical abnormalities that could be traced to poor diet and nutrition, but a direct link cannot be proven.

In an effort to help feed poor families, the Mexican government has distributed ramen packs to rural areas, where it has become popular with families unable to afford even the basic food staples of rice and beans. While ramen may help keep some people from starving, its poor nutritional value has other negative health consequences.

As awareness of the hunger issue in Mexico increases, knowledge of the situation may cause many Americans to reconsider the moral implications of not supporting immigration reform that could help tens of thousands of hungry people.