LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2024: STATISTICS AND TRENDS

1.2 Prevalence of food insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale

The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) is an estimate of the proportion of the population facing moderate or severe constraints on their ability to obtain sufficient food over the course of a year. People face moderate food insecurity when they are uncertain of their ability to obtain food and have been forced to reduce, at times over the year, the quality and/or quantity of food they consume due to lack of money or other resources. Severe food insecurity means that individuals have likely run out of food, experienced hunger and, at the most extreme, have gone for days without eating, putting their health and wellbeing at serious risk.

In 2023, moderate or severe food insecurity affected 28.9 percent or the world population, while the prevalence of severe food insecurity was estimated at 10.7 percent (FIGURE 5). Following a significant increase between 2019 and 2020 in the context of the pandemic, levels have remained relatively unchanged in recent years. The total number of people affected by moderate or severe food insecurity was 2.33 billion, including 864.1 million facing severe food insecurity. While the prevalence of both indicators has remained relatively unchanged since 2020, the total number of people affected by both levels of food insecurity increased by 66 million and 36 million, respectively, due to population growth.

At the regional level, considerable progress has been made in Latin America and the Caribbean towards the reduction of food insecurity. After an increase between 2019 and 2020 following the pandemic, and stagnation between 2020 and 2021, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity decreased for the second year in a row, affecting 28.2 percent of the population in 2023, which is equivalent to 187.6 million people. This also marks the first time in recent years that the regional estimate is below the world average (by 0.7 percentage point). Regarding severe food insecurity, the regional estimate of 8.7 percent was also below the world average (by 2 percentage points), which is equivalent to 58.1 million people.

Compared to 2022, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity decreased by 3.2 percentage points, which is equivalent to 19.7 million fewer people affected. Severe food insecurity also decreased in this period by 2.3 percentage points, or 14.4 million fewer people than the previous year.

Despite this considerable progress at the regional level, the improvement masks significant differences among the three subregions that constitute Latin America and the Caribbean. Both South America and Mesoamerica have a lower prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity than the world average, estimated at 25.1 and 28.2 percent, respectively, which is equivalent to 110.4 million and 51 million people (TABLE 4). The Caribbean has a prevalence of 58.8 percent, equivalent to 26.3 million people. A positive element to highlight in the three subregions is that moderate or severe food insecurity decreased compared to 2022. In South America, it decreased by 4.5 percentage points, while in the Caribbean it fell by 1.7 percentage points and in Mesoamerica by 0.4 percentage point.

Regarding severe food insecurity a similar situation is observed. South America and Mesoamerica have a lower prevalence than the global estimate at 7.2 and 7.6 percent, respectively, which is equivalent to 31.6 million and 13.8 million people affected. In the Caribbean, 28.6 percent of the population was severely food insecure, which is equivalent to 12.8 million people.

When comparing the latest estimates with 2022, in South America and Mesoamerica the prevalence of severe food insecurity decreased by 3.2 and 0.5 percentage points, respectively. The opposite is observed in the Caribbean, where the prevalence increased by 0.5 percentage point.

FIGURE 8 shows the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity at the national and subregional level as three-year averages for the latest period in the series (2021-2023) compared to the 2014-2016 period.

In the Caribbean in the 2021-2023 triennium, Haiti shows a prevalence of 82.8 percent, while in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic the prevalence was 55.1 and 46.1 percent, respectively. In Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados, approximately one-third of the population was affected by this kind of food insecurity. In the subregion, the countries with the lowest prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity were the Bahamas and Grenada, estimated at 17.2 and 19.9 percent, respectively.

In Mesoamerica, more than half the population of Guatemala and Honduras was affected by moderate or severe food insecurity in the 2021-2023 triennium. In Belize and El Salvador, upward of 40 percent of the population was affected by food insecurity, while Mexico and Costa Rica were the countries with the lowest proportion of people affected, estimated at 20.7 and 16.2 percent, respectively.

In South America, more than half the population of Peru was moderately or severely food insecure. Furthermore, in Argentina, Ecuador and Suriname, 36.1, 36.9 and 35.8 percent, respectively, of the population was affected by moderate or severe food insecurity. At the other end of the spectrum, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil had the lowest prevalence at 15.7, 17.6 and 18.4 percent, respectively.

Comparing the 2021-2023 triennium with the 2014-2016 triennium, Paraguay, Guatemala and Argentina showed increases in the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity of 17.9, 17.1 and 16.9 percentage points, respectively. In the Dominican Republic and Mexico, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity decreased in these periods by 8.1 and 4.2 percentage points, respectively.

Compared with a more recent period (2019-2021) (see Annex I), the countries that were able to reduce the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity the most were the Dominican Republic (7 percentage points) and Mexico (4.8 percentage points). The countries with the highest increase in this same period were Honduras and Jamaica, with increases of 6.1 and 4.8 percentage points, respectively.

Food insecurity in both degrees of severity continues to impact different subgroups of the population disproportionately (FIGURE 9). The prevalence of food insecurity among women is higher than the prevalence among men. This is observed both at the global level and across all regions of the world. At the global level, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity was 1.3 percentage points higher among women in 2023, and for severe food insecurity it was 0.8 percentage points higher. It is worth noting that the gender gap for moderate or severe food insecurity decreased by 1 percentage point compared to 2022, and for severe food insecurity the gap remained virtually unchanged.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the gender gap in food insecurity was larger compared to that of the world at both levels of severity (TABLE 6). For moderate or severe food insecurity in 2023, the gender gap in the region was 5.2 percentage points, while for severe food insecurity it was 1.4 percentage points, which is closer to the global estimate.

Considering the gender gaps in the subregions, Mesoamerica had the largest difference of 5.8 percentage points for moderate or severe food insecurity, and 1.3 percentage points for severe food insecurity. In South America, the gender gap for the former was 5.3 percentage points, while the gap for the latter was 1.2 percentage points. For the Caribbean, the gender gap on moderate or severe food insecurity was 3.9 percentage points, while for severe food insecurity, the gap was estimated at 3.3 percentage points, higher than the other two subregions.