Measuring food insecurity through people's experiences
The Voices of the Hungry project has launched a new tool called the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) which can be used to gather information about the adequacy of people’s access to food by asking them directly about their experiences.
National institutions can use the FIES to obtain data-based evidence about the distribution and severity of food insecurity that contributes to building political will and implementing policies to effectively realize the human right to adequate food.
Methods for estimating comparable prevalence rates of food insecurity experienced by adults throughout the world
This report presents a detailed description of the methodology and first results of FAO's Voices of the Hungry project. It provides the theoretical background and detailed description of the statistical methodology used to develop the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), a new metric for food access at the household and individual levels.
Application of the FIES in the Gallup World Poll in 2014 enabled FAO to calculate comparable estimates of the prevalence of moderate and severe food insecurity for 146 countries covering nearly 90% of the world population. The main purpose of the report is to allow food security analysts to evaluate the statistical soundness and adequacy of the methods described.