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Measuring Food Insecurity

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Abstract

Since the beginning of the 1990s, an extensive literature has existed on the subject of food insecurity, analyzed at various levels: individual, household, sub-population, country, and planet. This chapter reviews studies into food security at the level of the household and of the individual, focusing especially on the question of how to define and measure the complex concept of food insecurity. These studies have led to the development of measurement tools aimed in the first instance at developing countries and in the second at the developed world. They analyze individual social factors such as the characteristics of the members of the household associated with food insecurity, and especially the relevant socio-economic parameters. These partially overlap with the indicators or determinants of poverty.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5563E/X5563e00.htm#Contents.

  2. 2.

    http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/w3613f/w3613f00.htm.

  3. 3.

    http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/AA039F/aa039f05.htm#TopOfPage.

  4. 4.

    http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us.aspx.

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Correspondence to Katia Castetbon .

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Castetbon, K. (2017). Measuring Food Insecurity. In: Biesalski, H., Drewnowski, A., Dwyer, J., Strain, J., Weber, P., Eggersdorfer, M. (eds) Sustainable Nutrition in a Changing World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55942-1_3

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