IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/widerw/295475.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Undernutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Svedburg, Peter

Abstract

The predominant perception is that the world's food problems are now concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa. Declining food production and recurrent famine in many African countries are the focal points of much recent work on food problems. This paper assesses the evidence on the prevalence of undernutrition on a more permanent basis. The overall conclusion is that there is no firm evidence corroborating the notion that chronic and severe undernutrition is widespread in most parts of Africa. World Bank estimates, derived on the basis of aggregate data, suggest that almost half the population in Sub-Saharan Africa is undernourished and one-quarter severely so. FAO estimates purport that the amount of calories available for human consumption in the region corresponds to 80 percent of requirements even if distributed in proportion to needs. In the present paper, these estimates are shown to be biased, i.e., to exaggerate the non-transitory food consumption problems in Africa. Moreover, the aggregate estimates do not square up with the evidence from (i) dietary, (ii) anthropometric and (iii) food expenditure studies of sample populations. Many infants and children in Africa are stunted by Western standards and they face an exceedingly high risk of dying. There is, however, practically no evidence vindicating the notion that lack of food at the household level is the main reason; it thus seems that other factors, such as disease and nutritional misallocation within the families, are the major culprits. Finally, it is shown that there is no bias against female children in Africa, something that has been found in South Asia and Latin America. On the contrary, in Africa, boys seem to be at a systematic disadvantage.

Suggested Citation

  • Svedburg, Peter, "undated". "Undernutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa," WIDER Working Papers 295475, United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:widerw:295475
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.295475
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/295475/files/WP15.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.295475?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amartya Sen, 1981. "Ingredients of Famine Analysis: Availability and Entitlements," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 96(3), pages 433-464.
    2. Partha Dasgupta & Debraj Ray, 1987. "Adapting to Undernourishment: The Clinical Evidence and Its Implications," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1987-010, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Carl Riskin, 1987. "Feeding China: The Experience Since 1949," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1987-027, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Srinivasan, T. N., 1981. "Malnutrition : Some measurement and policy issues," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 3-19, February.
    5. Leon Podkaminer, 1986. "The Demand for Calories in Developing Countries: Comment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 68(1), pages 177-179.
    6. Henn, Jeanne Koopman, 1983. "Feeding the cities and feeding the peasants: What role for Africa's women farmers?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 11(12), pages 1043-1055, December.
    7. Kakwani, Nanak, 1986. "On Measuring Undernutrition," WIDER Working Papers 295613, United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Odin K. Knudsen & Pasquale L. Scandizzo, 1982. "The Demand for Calories in Developing Countries," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 64(1), pages 80-86.
    9. Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1986. "A methodology for measuring food poverty applied to Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 59-74, November.
    10. Eicher, Carl K. & Baker, Doyle Curtis, 1982. "Research on Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical Survey," Food Security International Development Papers 54071, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    11. Nanak Kakwani, 1986. "On Measuring Undernutrition," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1986-008, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Silberberg, Eugene, 1985. "Nutrition and the Demand for Tastes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(5), pages 881-900, October.
    13. Shah, C H, 1983. "Food Preference, Poverty, and the Nutrition Gap," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(1), pages 121-148, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Svedberg, 1987. "Undernutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critical Assessment of the Evidence," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1987-015, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Yuyan Zhang, 1989. "Economic System Reform in China," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1989-055, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Yuyan, Zhang, "undated". "Economic System Reform in China," WIDER Working Papers 295586, United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. S. R. Osmani, 1987. "Controversies in Nutrition and their Implications for the Economics of Food," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1987-016, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Osmani, S. R., "undated". "Controversies in Nutrition and their Implications for the Economics of Food," WIDER Working Papers 295485, United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Moazzem Hossain, 2013. "Population, poverty and responsible social protection issues of Asia," Chapters, in: Moazzem Hossain & Tapan Sarker & Malcolm McIntosh (ed.), The Asian Century, Sustainable Growth and Climate Change, chapter 2, pages 26-53, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Ogunlesi, Ayodeji & Bokana, Koye & Okoye, Chidozie & Loy, Jens-Peter, 2018. "Agricultural Productivity and Food Supply Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa: LSDV and SYS-GMM Approach," MPRA Paper 90204, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Svedberg, Peter, 1999. "841 Million Undernourished?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 2081-2098, December.
    9. F. le R. Booysen, 2001. "Non‐Payment Of Services: A Problem Of Ability‐To‐Pay," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 69(4), pages 674-697, December.
    10. Carolin Kroeger, 2023. "Heat is associated with short-term increases in household food insecurity in 150 countries and this is mediated by income," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 1777-1786, October.
    11. Van Landeghem, Bert & Vandeplas, Anneleen, 2018. "The relationship between status and happiness: Evidence from the caste system in rural India," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 62-71.
    12. Francisco J. Ciocchini & Gabriel Molteni, 2008. "Medidas alternativas de la pobreza en el Gran Buenos Aires, 1995-2006," Ensayos de Política Económica, Departamento de Investigación Francisco Valsecchi, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina., vol. 1(2), pages 46-82, Octubre.
    13. Salih, Siddig A., "undated". "Food Security in Africa," WIDER Working Papers 295412, United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Korir, Lilian & Rizov, Marian & Ruto, Eric, 2020. "Food security in Kenya: Insights from a household food demand model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 99-108.
    15. Thompson, Kristina & Lindeboom, Maarten & Portrait, France, 2019. "Adult body height as a mediator between early-life conditions and socio-economic status: the case of the Dutch Potato Famine, 1846–1847," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 103-114.
    16. Russell Davidson & Jean-Yves Duclos, 2000. "Statistical Inference for Stochastic Dominance and for the Measurement of Poverty and Inequality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(6), pages 1435-1464, November.
    17. Tabatabai H., 1985. "Food crisis and development policies in sub-saharan Africa," ILO Working Papers 992397363402676, International Labour Organization.
    18. Sassi, M., 2013. "Child Nutritional Status in the Malawian District of Salima: A Capability Approach," 2013 Second Congress, June 6-7, 2013, Parma, Italy 149892, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    19. Lengwiler, Yvan, 1998. "Endogenous endowments and equilibrium starvation in a Walrasian economy," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 37-58, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International Development;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:widerw:295475. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.