This survey contains some new features which set it apart from its predecessors. Firstly, China and those other countries formerly known as Asian centrally-planned economies, which were previously excluded in the traditional estimates of the prevalence of food inadequacy or undernutrition, are now included. Secondly, the method of estimation has been refined. The coverage of anthropometric indicators, which provide information on the nutritional status of subgroups such as children, adolescents and adults, has also been expanded. The main conclusion of the survey is that in developing countries as a whole, per caput dietary energy has continued to increase. Although 20 per cent of the total population had inadequate access to food in 1990-92, this is compared with 35 per cent two decades previously.