Minas Gerais has 5.04 million people living in homes where some level of food insecurity occurred in 2023. In total, 1.73 million households were identified in these circumstances, a number that represents 21.6% of the total of 7.99 million of houses estimated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the State. The data is part of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNADC) – Food security, whose results were released this Thursday (April 25). In throughout Brazil, there was a lack of food in 21 million homes.
Also according to the institute, the number includes mild, moderate or severe food insecurity, with the majority of homes (1.2 million) appearing in the least severe of them. Next are moderate cases (304 thousand households) and severe cases (223 thousand). Also according to IBGE, the estimate is that 566 thousand miners are experiencing severe food insecurity.
The indication of some level of food insecurity means that, in the three months prior to the survey, the residents of these households experienced at least one of the following situations:
- They were worried that they would run out of food before they could buy or receive more food
- They ran out of food before they had money to buy more food
- They ran out of money to have a healthy and varied diet
- They only ate a few types of food that they still had because they ran out of money.
Still according to IBGE, the data for Minas Gerais is below the percentage detected in the country, which was 27.6% of households experiencing some food insecurity.
Despite being alarming, data suffered a drop
The IBGE survey also noted that the numbers identified in 2023 suffered a reduction when compared to surveys carried out in 2017/2018.
At the time, the institute identified a 15% drop, since, five years ago, the number of households where there was a lack of food in the State was 21.8%. In 2023, the number was 21.6%. However, when considering only the most alarming data (moderate and severe insecurity), the sum went from 9.4% in 2018 to 6.6% last year.
—
THE TIME reinforces the commitment to quality, professional and Minas Gerais journalism. Our newsroom produces responsible information every day that you can trust.
Follow THE TIME on Facebook, on Twitter and on Instagram. Help grow our community.
