EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023: 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 at times during the year to reduce, due to a lack of money or other resources, the quality and/or quantity of food they consume. Severe food insecurity means that individuals have likely run out of food, experienced hunger or, at the most extreme, gone for days without eating, putting their health and well-being at serious risk.

Severe food insecurity affected 2.8 percent of the people in the ECA region (about a quarter of the world average of 11.3 percent) in 2022, down slightly from 2.9 percent in 2021 but still far above the level of 1.5 percent in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic (FIGURE 3, TABLE 3). By subregion in 2022, the percentage of people affected by severe food insecurity was 4.6 percent in Central Asia, 3.7 percent in the Western Balkans, 2.0 percent in the EU-27 and the United Kingdom, 1.8 percent in the Caucasus, 1.4 percent in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Europe and Ukraine, and 1.2 percent in the EFTA countries. Only the Caucasus and EFTA subregions saw declines from 2015, while the Western Balkans remained unchanged; in all other subregions, the percentage of severely food-insecure people was higher in 2022 than in 2015. Severe food insecurity rose in all subregions from 2019 to 2021, with an especially sharp increase in the “other” group of countries that includes Israel and Türkiye, and returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in 2022 only in the Caucasus. However, the percentage of severely food-insecure people was below the world average in all subregions.

An estimated 26.2 million people in Europe and Central Asia experienced severe food insecurity in 2022 (TABLE 4), which is 1.1 million fewer people than in 2021 but nearly 49 percent higher than in 2015. The number decreased from 2015 to 2019, by 3.2 million, but rose from 2019 to 2021 in the wake of the pandemic. The region accounted for about 3 percent of the global total of 900.1 million in 2022.

The number of severely food-insecure people increased from 2021 to 2022 in the EFTA countries and in CIS Europe and Ukraine. The number was unchanged in the Caucasus and lower in the rest of the ECA subregions.

In the ECA region, 111.1 million people were estimated to be moderately or severely food insecure in 2022, the equivalent of 4.7 million fewer people than in 2021 (FIGURE 5, TABLE 5). The number of moderately or severely food-insecure people increased annually only in the CIS Europe and Ukraine and the EU-27 and the United Kingdom; the number was stable in the EFTA countries and lower in the other ECA subregions.

The prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the ECA region was 11.9 percent in 2022, up from 10.7 percent in 2015 but 0.5 percentage points lower than in 2021 (FIGURE 3, TABLE 3). In 2022, the global total was 29.6 percent. As for subregions, in the “other” group of countries including Israel and Türkiye, 35.8 percent of the people were severely or moderately food insecure in 2022, compared to 17.4 percent in Central Asia, 16.9 percent in the Western Balkans, 14.7 percent in the Caucasus, and 10.9 percent in CIS Europe and Ukraine.

In 2022, the EFTA countries, the EU-27 and the United Kingdom, and CIS Europe and Ukraine saw decreases in comparison to 2015. The Caucasus, Central Asia and Western Balkans subregions experienced increases, with the largest being in Central Asia (from 9.1 percent in 2015 to 17.4 percent in 2022). The EFTA countries and CIS Europe and Ukraine were the only subregions in which the prevalence has increased since 2021; the estimates have declined in all other subregions. By country, the highest prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in 2022 was estimated in Georgia (36.5 percent), followed by Albania (30.2 percent) and Ukraine (28.2 percent) (FIGURE 6).

In the ECA region, women are more likely than men to be food insecure. FIGURE 7 shows that in 2022, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity was higher for women in the region (12.5 percent) than it was for men (10.7 percent). This trend is consistent at the global level and in all subregions, though the difference is quite small in some subregions. TABLE 6 shows an overall increasing trend in the prevalence of severe food insecurity and moderate or severe food insecurity in the ECA region, both for men and women. By subregion, declines are seen in both indicators among men and women in the Caucasus, among only women in Central Asia, and among only men in the Western Balkans. Furthermore, declines are seen in severe food insecurity in women in the Western Balkans and in moderate or severe food insecurity in men in CIS Europe and Ukraine and in women in the “other” group of countries that includes Israel and Türkiye.

In 2022, the highest prevalence of food insecurity among women, 38.1 percent (versus 34 percent among men), was in the “other” group of countries that includes Israel and Türkiye. Next were the Western Balkans, with 18.5 percent among women (versus 15.9 percent among men), and Central Asia, with 17.4 percent among women (versus 17.3 percent among men). In the CIS Europe and Ukraine, the prevalence among women (12.6 percent) was 3.2 percentage points higher than the prevalence among men (9.4 percent). In the Caucasus, the prevalence among women (15.5 percent) was 1.5 percentage points higher than among men (14 percent).