Undernourishment and critical food poverty: Indicators at national and sub-national levels

Undernourishment and critical food poverty: Indicators at national and sub-national levels

Descripción

Indicators to measure food poverty and undernourishment are useful for understanding food insecurity at national level and within countries. This paper discusses two indicators: proportion of undernourishment, and proportion of critical food poverty. Both indicators are based on nutritional underlying criteria and derived from food consumption and income data collected in national household surveys. Proportion of undernourishment is the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) indicator number 1.9, which is based on the distribution of dietary energy consumption (DEC); the proportion of critical food poverty is an indicator that links undernourishment to food poverty, based on the distribution of income (INC). The link is the concept of minimum dietary energy requirement (MDER) used in the FAO methodology as the cutoff value in the distribution of dietary energy consumption for estimating undernourishment. The critical food poverty line for estimating the proporti on of critical food poverty is the critical income corresponding to the cost of the MDER, based on a balanced diet on energy-yielding nutrients accessible to low-income population groups. The macronutrient-balanced diet uses the recommendations of a Joint WHO/ FAO Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (2002, Geneva) as its point of reference. Examples illustrate the results of both indicators for a sample of countries in different continents.