Crunching Numbers

It was posted on base rates yesterday that the total lives lost in WWII was approximately 50 million. I find that number absolutely stunning; pondering context exacerbated the situation.

Currently, about 8.5 million people die every year from starvation. The Second World War was from 1939-1945 (i.e., six years).
6 x 8.5 = 51.
This means that over every six year period, deaths from starvation is equivalent to deaths from WWII.

Hard to determine what is worse: the human desires of greed, power, domination and violence that lead to countries destroying one another, or the human desires of greed, power, domination and violence that leads to countries not sharing their food.

It should be mentioned that at the time of WWII the population of the planet was less than one billion, while today it is over six billion. Proportionally then, the deaths of WWII are much higher. Yet, 50 million people dead now still seems rather important. Lastly, 20-30 years ago, when the population of the planet was 4-5 billion, 100 million were dying from starvation every six years, so the proportions possibly are not that disparate.