The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent says that food is being distributed to prevent hunger in European countries such as Iceland, Hungary, Spain and Italy, something "which has not been carried out in recent times."
 

In Spain, some 500,000 people are receiving food from the national Red Cross, a figure that does not include groups such as refugees and asylum-seekers.

The Red Cross says people are having difficulty paying mortgages and other debts and many cannot make ends meet. The president of the Hungarian Red Cross Society, Georg Habsburg says governments should be aware of the social impact of the recession and should be expanding welfare programmes and formulating policies to help people deal with its effects.

Photo of poster for Hungarian anti-poverty organisation
Photo by Planet Love (flickr)