Food security statistics
Improving the quantity and quality of food security statistics
Food security statistics are vital for:
- objectively keeping track of progress made towards eradicating hunger and food insecurity; and
- understanding the impact of food security programmes and policies.
FAO’s statistics division:
- delivers reliable food security statistics through its portal FAOSTAT, and
- develops national capacity in collecting and analyzing food security data.
Work being done in the context of the programme
In the context of the EU-FAO programme, FAO’s Statistics Division assists countries in analyzing food security. This includes providing methodologies and guidelines for:
- preparing and compiling Supply and Utilization Accounts (SUA) and Food Balance Sheets (FBS)
- collecting food consumption data in national household surveys; and
- analyzing food consumption data for deriving food security indicators.
The use of a free software for Automated Economic Analysis (ADePT) makes it easier to extract indicators from household surveys and produce a variety of reports.
To make sure these methodologies and manuals are used effectively, the programme organizes training and capacity development at the national level.
Food security and gender
Within households, not all people may have equal access to food. It is thus vital to have statistics at the individual level to understand if vulnerable people, such as women and children, are more food insecure.
While the programme advocates for increasing the amount of data on individuals’ food security, it also promotes the best possible use of existing information. It does this by:
- recommending methods for gender sensitive analyses at the household level; and
- assisting FAO’s statistical portal (FAOSTAT) in setting up a specific section for gender disaggregated data.