15.1% of the Uruguayan population lives in households with moderate or severe food insecurity and specifically 2.2% in households with severe food insecurity, according to figures from the Third national report on the prevalence of food insecurity in households, corresponding to the year 2024, released this Wednesday.
Measured by households, moderate or severe food insecurity covers 13.7% and severe 1.9%; according to the data that was collected by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) during the Continuous Household Survey.
The document, presented by the ministries of Public Health and Social Development, defines moderate food insecurity when the person “does not have enough money or resources to eat a healthy diet; has uncertainty about the ability to obtain food; and probably skipped a meal or ran out of food occasionally.”
Severe food insecurity implies that the person “ran out of food; “He went a whole day without eating several times a year.”
The prevalence of food insecurity, by region, indicates worse values for the interior of the country, where moderate and severe is 14.8% and severe is 2.1%. In Montevideo they are, respectively, 12.1% and 1.6%.
The data present great differences if measured according to the quintile of the household’s per capita income, since food insecurity basically doubles from quintile to quintile.
While in quintile 5 the moderate or severe rate reaches 1.9% of households, in quintile 4 it rises to 4.8%, in quintile 3 it is 9.6%, in quintile 4 it increases to 18.9 % and in quintile 5 it reaches 33.4%.
If the data are considered separately between households with or without the presence of children under 18 years of age, moderate or severe food insecurity also varies noticeably. In those where there are no minors it is 10.9% and where there are minors it reaches 17.7%.
Compared to previous years, the total numbers decreased. While in 2024 moderate or severe food insecurity covers 13.7% and severe 1.9% of households, in 2023 it was 14.9% and 2.5% and in 2022 it was 15.3% and 2.6%, respectively.
At a press conference, the Minister of Social Development, Alejandro Sciarra, highlighted “the decline in food insecurity” at the national level and also discriminated against by Montevideo and the Interior.
Regarding the drop in serious food insecurity in Montevideo, he maintained that it is possible that it is due to “a direct impact of the Territorial Food Program applied” by Mides in this last year.
He also noted that there was a “small increase” in food insecurity in the central area of the country. “There is no concrete explanation. It may be due to a question of increased unemployment in some of those departments that has brought the number down,” he expressed.
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Photo: Presidency Communication
