The number of hungry people has doubled in 10 countries. A new report explains why

Children reach for food handouts in the aftermath of the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, which has destroyed rice, corn and wheat crops and left over a third of the country under water. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Climate change and extreme weather events are fueling hunger, conflict and inequality at an unprecedented rate in the countries least equipped to deal with the impact, according to a new report released on Friday by Oxfam, the international aid agency.

The charity looked at the 10 countries that were the subject of the most United Nations appeals for extreme weather-related crises since 2000: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Somalia and Zimbabwe. The report found that these countries have seen the number of people suffering acute hunger — when food is scarce — more than double in the last six years to 48 million, with nearly 18 million on the brink of starvation, when people succumb to that scarcity of food.