Throughout Russian history famines, droughts and crop failures occurred on the territory of Russia, the Russian Empire and the USSR on more or less regular basis.

The timeline of major famines in India during British rule covers major famines on the Indian subcontinent from 1765 to 1947.

Famines in Ethiopia have occurred periodically throughout the history of the country.

The conventional explanation until 1951 for the cause of famines was the decline of food availability relative to the nutritional needs of the population (abbreviated as FAD for food availability decline).