The number of people with severe food and nutritional insecurity in Brazil fell from 33.1 million in 2022 to 8.7 million in 2023, going from 15.5% of the population to 4.1%, a drop of 11.4 percentage points . 
The 2023 data are from the Food Security module of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), released this Thursday (25) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The 2022 numbers were collected by the Brazilian Research Network on Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security (Rede Penssan).
The IBGE survey was carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Combating Hunger (MDA), using the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (EBIA) as a methodological reference, which allows the identification and classification of households according to with the level of food security of its residents.
Record
According to the MDA minister, Wellington Dias (photo), this is the second best result of the entire EBIA series. “Going from 15.5% of the population in a situation of hunger to 4.1% in just one year is a record. It is important to point out that, from 2019 to 2022, IBGE was not allowed to carry out the EBIA, but Brazil was not left without research. Brazilian researchers, including scientists and technicians from several universities and technicians from IBGE itself, went into the field and did so for Rede Penssan,” the minister told Brazil Agency.
He also recalled that the data presented are the result of the federal government’s effort to resume public policies to reduce hunger and poverty. “In the year 2023, we will remove 24.4 million people from this situation, who will now have breakfast, lunch and dinner every day,” he said.
According to IBGE, in 2023 the country had 27.6% (or 21.6 million) of its households in a situation of food insecurity, 18.2% (or 14.3 million) with mild food insecurity, 5.3% (or 4.2 million) with moderate food insecurity and 4.1% (or 3.2 million) with severe food insecurity.
Valéria Burity, extraordinary secretary for Combating Poverty and Hunger at MDS. Photograph: Rafa Neddermeyer/Agência Brasil
For the extraordinary secretary for Combating Poverty and Hunger at MDS, Valéria Burity, the numbers indicate that – in a short period – public policies to combat hunger and poverty were very effective.
She recalls that the country went through a very long period, starting in 2016, of setbacks in public policies in the sector.
“We celebrate, but we know that there is still a lot of work ahead, and we will continue to do so to overcome the hunger situation and also guarantee food as a right, guarantee food and nutritional security for the Brazilian population”, says the secretary, who is responsible for the Brazil Without Hunger plan.
