food insecurity

food insecurity, the limited or uncertain access to nutritious food, which also includes limitations on the ability to obtain nutritious food in ways that are socially acceptable. Approximately 2.4 billion people worldwide (some 29.6 percent of the human population) experience moderate or severe food insecurity. Although food insecurity does occur in developed countries, the overwhelming majority of food-insecure people are concentrated in developing countries in Central and South America, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) divides food insecurity into two categories, moderate food insecurity (characterized by reduced food quality and quantity, the tendency to skip meals, and rising uncertainty about obtaining food) and severe food insecurity (characterized by running out of food and going without food for a day or more). Moderate food insecurity is a condition that affected some 1.5 billion people worldwide in 2022, and severe food insecurity impacted an additional 900 million people.

Causes

The causes of food insecurity are varied and complex and stem from a number of human-driven and natural factors. Almost three-quarters of people who do not have enough to eat live in politically unstable countries. War and other forms of conflict may affect people in the midst of the fighting, and it may also affect those outside the immediate region. For example, the Russia-Ukraine War (2014–present) has reduced grain shipments from Ukraine to countries in sub-Saharan Africa that rely on them. Such supply-chain disruptions cause food shortages. In addition, increases in fertilizer and fuel costs raise food prices, which reduces the amount of food poor individuals and countries can purchase. Climate change also contributes to food insecurity. Floods, droughts, and other changing weather conditions destroy crops and livestock while interfering with people’s ability to work—further contributing to supply-chain disruptions.

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Food insecurity also occurs wealthier countries. For example, in early 2023 roughly one in ten U.S. adults were food insecure because of any of several factors, which include having low income or lack of income, rising costs associated with housing and medicine, the inability to access the medical system, systemic racism and discrimination, and the creation of food deserts. The period of rising inflation in the U.S. that followed the COVID-19 pandemic combined with stagnant wages to result in lower discretionary income, which contributed to greater food insecurity. Food insecurity in wealthy countries can also be triggered by loss of employment, injury, unanticipated home repairs, and changes to government benefits that restrict and reduce the types of foods that can be purchased.

Health effects

Food insecurity also contributes to poor health, since people may skip meals, eat less, or switch to lower-quality foods. Malnutrition can lead to weakness, pain, illness, and even death. Food insecurity also contributes to type 2 diabetes, obesity, and hypertension (high blood pressure) when less-expensive foods with lower nutritional value are substituted for healthy foods over the long term. Existing health issues can be worsened if people forgo necessary medication or medical treatment in order to buy food. Children who live in food-insecure homes may have difficulty learning and may not develop properly. Food insecurity is associated with poor mental health, low educational attainment, and poor job performance.

Solutions to food insecurity

Nearly one billion people experience hunger; however, there is enough food produced each year to feed the world’s population. Food insecurity stems from challenges to food availability, food access, and food utilization. Food availability involves ensuring not only that enough food is available to feed a population but that food supplies are available consistently. Food access, in contrast, involves having the resources necessary that give people the ability to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. Broadly speaking, food can be made more available by increasing a population’s access to the resources that grow food (that is, fertilizer, water, and arable land) and to networks of food distribution. In addition, governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and relief groups can improve the structures that provide people with jobs and other financial resources that help people purchase food, as well as helping them with food utilization—that is, the process of consuming a nutritious diet by having access to clean water, adequate sanitation, and the education necessary to both grow nutritious food (rather than low-nutrition food) and prepare it hygienically.

To attain these goals worldwide, international organizations have partnered with local governments and other groups. In 2012 the UN launched the Zero Hunger Challenge with the goal of eradicating hunger by 2030, as part of its global sustainable development objectives. In 2021 the UN held a summit to address hunger and consider the progress made by the Zero Hunger Challenge effort. While several UN organizations (including the World Hunger Programme and the FAO), lending organizations (such as the World Bank), and relief groups (such as the Peace Corps) continue to work with communities to prevent food insecurity, summit participants and organizers and a follow-on report (“The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World,” produced by the FAO) revealed that hunger had increased through the late 2010s and early 2020s because of the effects of climate change, conflict, and the distribution challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. They recommended that governments and NGOs work harder to improve sustainable food production and distribution systems through, for example, better communication between local and regional stakeholders, better management of water resources and fisheries, and accelerated financing to fund research, innovation, and the rollout of food-production projects.

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At local, regional, and national scales there are a number of ways to reduce food insecurity. Shorter-term actions include donating to humanitarian organizations that provide food directly to people, funding food banks, and removing protectionist export bans, the last of which would allow surplus food stores to move to areas in need. Longer-term actions include creating community social nets (that is, assistance programs and services that provide poor individuals with resources), improving access to arable land, reducing food waste, coordinating efforts among various stakeholders from different economic sectors, finding peaceful resolutions to international conflicts, and implementing agricultural practices that combat climate change and economic policies that lower inflation and slow increases in the cost of living.