About 2.5 million people in Niger may be affected by predicted food shortages. If 2% die of famine, 50,000 would die. If the average death results in 30 life-years lost, the total life-years lost will be 1.5 million. Thus, there could be 1.5 million life-years / 40,000 life-years/character = 37 characters. The article has 34 characters.