Introduction.

Hunger is one of the main issues in the world food security policy, however, thousands of people die every year due to lack of food intake.

Objective.

To evaluate the number of deaths due to malnutrition in South America, in a period corresponding to the last twenty years of information.

Materials and methods.

The general linear model was used, incorporating the Tukey test based on a level of statistical significance of 5%. Additionally, the multivariate cluster technique was carried out.

Results.

The highest number of deaths due to malnutrition occurred in children under four years of age and in older adults. The highest percentage of deaths due to malnutrition in children under one year old occurred in Venezuela (23.9% women; 25.4% men). Chile has the lowest percentage of deaths due to malnutrition in children under one year of age (0.4% women; 0.5% men).

Conclusion.

Although the countries of South America have high food availability, starvation deaths remain prevalent in part of the region.

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