Food insecurity and poverty – A cross-country analysis using national household survey data

This study analyses national household surveys from ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America to shed light on the household-level relationship between monetary poverty and food insecurity. Similar to previous studies, results highlight a clear correlation between poverty and food insecurity. In some instances, the overlap between the set of households classified as poor and those classified as food insecure, can be partial, with not-negligible shares being either classified as poor but not food insecure, or as food insecure but not poor. This mismatch is not surprising, as food security and poverty are two distinct conceptual constructs. Findings warn against superficial targeting approaches where monetary poverty is used as a proxy of food insecurity and vice versa, highlighting that specific food insecurity and poverty measures are needed to guide respective policies. The analysis also points to certain population groups, such as households involved in agriculture and households suffering from shocks, where classifications based on poverty and food insecurity measures appear to be more discrepant.