Overview

ERS provides quantitative and qualitative research and analysis on food security issues in developing countries, focusing on food security measurement and the key factors affecting food production and household access.

The annual ERS International Food Security Assessment is the only report to provide a 10-year projection of food security indicators in 76 low- and middle-income countries.

In recent years, the ERS International Food Security Assessments have estimated that between 500 and 700 million people in the 76 countries studied are food insecure. The estimate for 2015 is 475 million food-insecure people (food-insecure people are those consuming less than the nutritional target of about 2,100 calories per day). However, food security conditions vary from year to year because of changes in local food production and the financial capacity of countries to purchase food in global markets. Despite progress, Sub-Saharan Africa continues to account for the bulk of the food-insecure people in the countries assessed, followed by Asia and then Latin America and the Caribbean.