One in every four households Brazilians presented some degree of food insecurity in 2023, meaning that residents did not know if they would have enough food or suitable on the tablepoint out data from the Continuous Food Security PNAD released this Thursday (25).
In total, around 64.1 million people lived in these homes, and 11.9 million of them faced an even more dramatic situation and others 8.6 million were on the verge of starvation.
Prevalence of food insecurity in households (in %)
Source: IBGE
Although the numbers are alarming, the number of food secure households increased in the last years.
- Last year, 72.4% of households in Brazil were in food security. This number represents 151.9 million Brazilians.
- In the previous survey, carried out in the 2017-2018 biennium, there were 63.3% of homes.
- The 2023 index is the second best index for food security, second only to 2013, when 77.4% of households had access to quality food.
According to IBGE, the reasons for this improvement are related to factors such as investment in social programs, economic recovery and food prices.
Prevalence of food security in households (in %)
Source: IBGE
The IBGE, responsible for the survey, classifies food insecurity into three levels:
- Mild food insecurity: lack of quality in food and a certain concern or uncertainty regarding access to food in the future.
- Moderate food insecurity: lack of quality and a reduction in the quantity of food among adults.
- Severe food insecurity: lack of quality and reduction in the quantity of food also among children. In this situation, hunger becomes an experience lived at home.
Already the food security It is classified as full and regular access to quality food, in sufficient quantity, without compromising access to other essential needs.
How to end hunger in Brazil
IBGE made a selection of the 27.6% of households with some degree of insecurity:
- Light: 18.2% of households;
- Moderate: 5.3% of households;
- Serious: 4.1% of households.
Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity (in%)
Source: IBGE
Children at one end, elderly people at the other
When analyzing the food situation by age group, IBGE identified that 37.4% of children up to 4 years old lived in households with some type of food insecurity – 26.6% of them in households with mild food insecurity, 6.3% with moderate food insecurity, and another 4.5% with severe insecurity.
In the age group between 5 and 17 years old, this number is slightly lower: 36.6%. Between 18 and 49 years old, the percentage was 29%, while the group between 50 and 64 years old registered 26.8%.
The lowest proportion of people living under some type of food insecurity was in the age group over 65 years old – 20.9%. In total, around 2.8% of seniors over 65 years of age experienced severe food insecurity during the survey period.
North and Northeast have the highest percentage of insecurity
When analyzing the regions of the country, IBGE concluded that the North and Northeast had proportions of households with moderate or severe food insecurity well above other regions in 2023:
- 16% in the North
- 14.8% in the Northeast
- 7.9% in the Midwest
- 6.7% in the Southeast
- 4.7% in the South
The reverse also occurs. The two regions recorded the lowest proportions when we talk about food security:
- 83.4% in the South
- 77% in the Southeast
- 75.7% in the Midwest
- 61.2% in the Northeast
- 60.3% in the North
Pará led the ranking of states with restricted access to adequate food, followed by Amapá, Sergipe and Maranhão. On the other side of the pyramid, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Rondônia and Espírito Santo are among the places with full and regular access to adequate food.
Percentage of moderate or severe food insecurity
Source: IBGE
Fight against hunger: Pastoral da Criança has already reached more than 21 countries
