LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022: Statistics and Trends

1.2. SDG INDICATOR 2.1.2. PREVALENCE OF MODERATE OR SEVERE FOOD INSECURITY BASED ON THE FOOD INSECURITY EXPERIENCE SCALE

The Food Insecurity Experience Scale- (FIES) based prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity is an estimate of the proportion of the population who face moderate or severe constraints on their ability to obtain sufficient food over the course of a year. Moderate food insecurity refers to the situation where individuals face uncertainties about their ability to obtain food and have been forced to reduce, at times during the year, the quality and/or quantity of food they consume due to lack of money or other resources. Severe food insecurity means individuals have likely run out of food, experienced hunger and, at the most extreme, gone for days without eating, putting their health and well-being at serious risk.¹ The severity of food insecurity is measured using data collected with the Food Insecurity Experience Scale survey module (FIES-SM), a set of eight questions asking respondents to self-report experiences associated with limited access to food. ¹ It is important to note that moderate or severe food insecurity calculated by the FIES is a different measure than the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) acute food insecurity phases reported by the Global Report on Food Crises. Acute food insecurity is sporadic, occurring when sudden crises limit people’s access to food in the short term. It refers to a specific time of year, usually the last four weeks, and covers only some areas of the country, generally rural areas considered hotspots of food insecurity in which the food insecurity will not become chronic if assistance is promptly received.

Various worldwide events with significant effects on food security, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate shocks and conflicts, have shown, firstly, how important it is to monitor and measure food insecurity, and secondly, how useful data are for governments and relevant institutions. One of the strengths of FIES is its possibility to capture ongoing events that affect personal and household income and the ability to obtain food in a timely manner and in enough quantity to meet daily requirements.

The prevalence of food insecurity is higher in Latin America and the Caribbean than in the world. That is, 40.6 percent of the region’s population faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2021, compared to the world average of 29.3 percent. The prevalence of severe food insecurity is also higher in the region (14.2 percent) than in the world (11.7 percent) (Table 3). At the global level, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity increased 8.1 percentage points between 2014 and 2021, and 3.9 percentage points between 2019 and 2021, while in the region this prevalence increased 16 percentage points and 8.9 percentage points in the same periods respectively.^{2 2} The estimates for Latin America and Caribbean from 2014 to 2019 include Caribbean countries whose combined populations represent only 30 percent of the population of that subregion, while the 2020 and 2021 estimates include Caribbean countries whose combined populations represent around 60 and 65 percent, respectively, of the subregional population.

In South America, moderate or severe food insecurity affected 40.9 percent of the population in 2021, while in Mesoamerica the prevalence was 34.1 percent. In the Caribbean, 64 percent of the people suffered moderate or severe food insecurity, half of which (30.5 percent) experienced severe food insecurity (Table 3).

In 2020, the confinement resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic caused a reduction in economic activity. Demand and employment decreased, and this affected the ability of households to generate income. In addition, the significant presence of informal employment in the region left a considerable proportion of households more vulnerable to a shock of this magnitude. Subregions and countries were affected differently according to their particular conditions (FAO, IFAD, PAHO, WFP and UNICEF, 2020).

The Caribbean³ was the subregion most affected by food insecurity during 2019–2021. As can be seen in Figure 4, in Haiti the majority of the population (82.5 percent) suffered from moderate or severe food insecurity in 2019–2021 (three-year averaged estimate). Over the same period in Jamaica half the population was affected, (50.3 percent) and in Trinidad and Tobago 43.3 percent. In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados, more than 30 percent of the population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Grenada showed a prevalence higher than 20 percent. ³ See note 2.

In Mesoamerica, moderate or severe food insecurity increased significantly in most countries between the 2014–2016 and 2019–2021 three-year periods. In Guatemala the increase was 13.2 percentage points, increasing prevalence to over half of the country’s population (55.9 percent). Half the population of Honduras also experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, with an increase in prevalence of 8.3 percentage points. The prevalence in Belize increased 6.6 percentage points between these periods to exceed 40 percent of the population. while in El Salvador the increase was 4.3 percentage points, reaching a prevalence of 46.5 percent in 2019–2021 (Figure 4). In Mexico food insecurity remained stable, affecting a quarter of its population in 2019–2021.

In 2020, both the Caribbean and Mesoamerica were affected by extreme tropical storms. These devastating natural disasters had adverse effects on health, shattered the livelihoods of thousands of households, and destroyed much of the crops in the area. (Klotzbach et al., 2020; Waddell, Jayaweera, Mirsaeidi, Beier and Kumar, 2021). Along with the constraining consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, this situation further endangered food security by directly hampering the ability of people to produce and access food.

Within South America, in Peru, around half the population experiences moderate or severe food insecurity. In Argentina, Ecuador, and Suriname it affects nearly 37 percent of the population. As elsewhere, food insecurity also increased significantly in those three countries between the 2014–2016 and 2019–2021 three-year-periods: by 17.8 percentage points in Argentina, 17 percentage points in Paraguay, 16.1 percentage points in Ecuador, and 13.3 percentage points in Peru. It is worth noting that in Brazil moderate or severe food insecurity increased by 10 percentage points over the same period (Figure 4).

Since 2014, moderate or severe food insecurity in the region has risen by 116 million people. Almost half of this increase occurred between 2019 and 2021, rising from 205.2 million to 267.7 million. The subregion mainly responsible for this increase is South America (49.6 million more people in 2021 than in 2019, and 177.7 million in total) (Figure 5).

In Mesoamerica, 61.9 million people suffered moderate or severe food insecurity in 2021. Food insecurity mostly remained unchanged in this subregion between 2014 and 2019, but between 2019 and 2021 moderate or severe food insecurity increased by 11.9 million people, as can be seen in Figure 5.

In 2021, 93.5 million people experienced severe food insecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean, a 29.5 million increase from 2019. Severe food insecurity has been rising at a faster pace in South America, where it has tripled since 2014, from 22 million to 65.6 million people. Between 2019 and 2021, severe food insecurity rose by 29.1 million in South America, an 80 percent increase in only two years. In Mesoamerica severe food insecurity has not risen as sharply as in South America, which experienced an increase of 3.6 million more people (33 percent) between 2014 and 2021. In Mesoamerica in 2021 severe food insecurity affected 14.5 million people.

Food insecurity among women

Poverty, inequality and social exclusion leave people, mainly those in vulnerable groups, including women, at increased risk of food insecurity, unhealthy diets and malnutrition in all its forms. Women are more likely than men to be food insecure in the world. And rural women, as producers, face even greater constraints than their male counterparts in accessing productive resources and services, technologies, markets and financial assets. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely and disproportionately affected women regarding employment opportunities and access to nutritious food. Consequently, in the last few years the gender gap in the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity has broadened (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2021 and 2022).

At the global level, the prevalence of food insecurity among women is higher than the prevalence among men. In Latin America and the Caribbean, however, the gap is larger compared to the world and other regions (4.3 percentage points in the world in 2021, compared to 11.3 percentage points in the region). And the gap in the region has been increasing significantly more over the years, from 4 percentage points in 2014, to 11.3 percentage points in 2021, while at the global level the gender gap increase was 2.3 percentage points in 2014 to 4.3 percentage points in 2021. In 2021, moderate or severe food insecurity affected 45.2 percent of women in the region and 33.9 percent of men. Among the subregions, Mesoamerica shows the largest gap of 12.5 percentage points, while in South America the gap is 11.7 percentage points, and in the Caribbean 3.2 percentage points. (Figure 6). This disparity shows the clear need for including a gender perspective in policies and investments that address food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2021 and 2022).

Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with the highest increase in food insecurity between 2019 and 2021. This is related to the fact that the region was among the most affected by the pandemic and has higher levels of income inequality (see Part 2). Economic downturns disproportionately affect the food security of lower-income populations in countries with higher income inequality. (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, 2019).