COVID-19 Working Paper: Food Insecurity During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Four African Countries

by Jeffrey D Michler, Anna Josephson, and Lorin Rudin-Rush

This report analyzes food security in the year after the onset of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in four African countries. Using household-level data collected by the World Bank, this report describes differences in food security over time during the pandemic between rural and urban areas as well as between female- and male-headed households in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria. A sharp increase in food insecurity is observed during the early months of the pandemic before a gradual decline. Additionally, findings show a larger increase in food insecurity in rural areas relative to urban areas within each of these countries. Finally, no systemic difference in food insecurity is found between female-headed and male-headed households.

Keywords: Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, food security, rural food security, urban food security, markets, gender, sub-Saharan Africa, World Bank, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria

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