The FAO Statistics Division provides technical assistance to countries for improving the food consumption statistics used for food security assessments at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels, and supports countries for enhancing the processing and analysis of food consumption statistics derived from household income and expenditure surveys (HIES), or household budget surveys (HBS), or Living Standards Measurement Surveys (LSMS) or Multiple Purpose Surveys (MPS). Data on food consumption in terms of quantity and monetary values from HIES are useful for estimating food deprivation (undernourishment) at national and sub-national levels depending on their size and design. Additional data on income and demographic dimensions allow for enhanced analysis of sub-national population groups.

The objective of such assistance is to help countries in estimating food consumption indicators useful to policy makers in the planning of interventions for alleviating hunger and poverty among the population through direct cooperation with the national statistical office and other national institutions in charge of food security.

The FAO Statistics Division has developed statistical procedures for processing, computing and analyzing food consumption data collected in the HIES.

The capacity building through technical assistance to countries is provided with financial support from organizations like the European Commission and the World Bank inter alia.