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At
the 1996 World Food Summit, the United States and 185 other
countries committed to halving the number of undernourished
people in the world by 2015. Each country agreed to develop
a national plan of action and to report periodically on progress
made toward this goal. On June 10-13, 2002, countries will
assemble again in Rome for the "World Food Summit Five
Years After" conference. They will look at the reality
of chronic food insecurity and the continuing challenges to
meeting the original World Food Summit goal.
Two new
ERS publications provide current assessments of U.S. and global
food security. These publications are part of an active research
program on food security, which can be accessed through the
ERS Food Security in the United States and the Global Food
Security briefing rooms.
Publications: |
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 Between
1998 and 2000, food insecurity fell by 11 percent and hunger
by 16 percent. The declines were widespread, affecting most
regions and types of households. For the year ending September
2000, nearly 90 percent of American households were food secure
for the entire year. The rest were food insecure at least
some time during the year, meaning that they did not always
have access to enough food for active, healthy lives for all
household members.
The report
provides the most recent statistics on the food security of
U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent on food
and the extent to which food-insecure households participated
in Federal and community food assistance programs. |
| Food
Security Assessment, GFA-13 |
 Based
on all the indicators developed by ERS, the aggregate food
situation for the 67 low-income countries monitored in this
report deteriorated in 2001 relative to estimates in 2000.
The main reason is the impact of food production shortfalls
in many countries, coinciding with the global economic slowdown
that intensified foreign exchange constraints in these countries
and limited their availability to import food.
Food access
remains a common problem among the lower income populations
in almost all countries. In 51 of the 67 study countries,
consumption levels for 20 percent or more of the population
were estimated to be below nutritional requirements in 2001.
This number is projected to decline to 47 by 2011. For these
countries, there is an urgent need to reduce inequality in
purchasing power and incomes. Increases in food supply also
would reduce food prices and increase the real purchasing
power of lower income people in the nonagricultural sector. |
Briefing
Rooms: |
| Food
Security in the United States |
A valuable
tool for information and analysis on food security in the
United States, this briefing room provides data and analysis
on:
- Conditions
and trends
- Current
measurements
- History
of the food security measurement project
- Household
survey tools
- Community
food security
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