Abstract
This chapter provides the elements for the interpretation of the indicators used for monitoring food security and the most adopted methodology to assess food security indicators at the household and individual levels. Focusing on the national level, this chapter illustrates the suite of food security indicators adopted by the FAO, the Global Hunger Index, a multidimensional indicator produced by the IFPRI, and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale developed by the FAO as a measure of the lived experience of food insecurity. This part is followed by the presentation of the consolidated approach to the computation of the Food Consumption Score, the spending on food index, the Dietary Diversity Index, the Coping Strategy Index, and the Household Hunger Scale: it also informs on their interpretation. At the end of this chapter, the reader will be able to understand and use the most adopted indicators for monitoring food security for the purpose of building political will, designing effective policies, and targeting resource allocation.
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Notes
- 1.
In developing countries, most ADERs fall between 2100 and 2400 calories. For a precise computation, see United Nations University, World Health Organization & Food And Agriculture Organization of The United Nations (2001).
- 2.
Following the definition of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the PPPs “are the rates of currency conversion that equalize the purchasing power of different currencies by eliminating the differences in price levels between countries” (http://www.oecd.org/std/prices-ppp/purchasingpowerparities-frequentlyaskedquestionsfaqs.htm).
- 3.
The standard deviation is given by the following formula:
\(SD = \frac{{\sqrt {\mathop \sum \nolimits \left| {{\text{x - }}\overline{\text{x}} } \right|^{2} } }}{\text{n}}\)
where ∑ is the sum of the children’s weight-for-height minus the WHO Child Standards median, and n is the number of children.
- 4.
For the median and standard deviations of the WHO Child Growth Standards, see de Onis et al. (2007).
- 5.
Normally, the percentage of children under 5 years of age affected by wasting is computed as the share of children whose Z-scores are two standard deviations (-2 SD) below the reference population. The Z-score is a measure of the dispersion of data given by dividing the difference between the measured value and the median of the reference population by the standard deviation of the reference population. The same computation method is followed for the other two anthropometric indicators.
- 6.
The BMI is evaluated as a power-type index according to the following formula:
\(BMI = \frac{Weight}{{Height^{2} }}\)
The literature shows a strong relationship between food consumption and BMI (Shetty and James 1994).
- 7.
A BMI above 25 indicates overweight.
- 8.
Food price volatility is based on the 8-month rolling standard deviation method. In other words, the annual volatility indicator is obtained by computing the average of the standard deviation of the month-to-month growth rates calculated over the previous 8 months.
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Sassi, M. (2018). Indicators for Monitoring Food Security. In: Understanding Food Insecurity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70362-6_4
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