Assessing food insecurity in industrialised countries

The existence of hunger amidst affluence became an issue of public debate in the United States in the 1980's. Attempts to assess it were hampered by lack of consensus on the definition of hunger and measures to assess its prevalence. Research was undertaken in the late 1980's, the purposes of which were to describe hunger from the point of view of people experiencing it, propose a compatible definition, and construct valid and reliable indicators consistent with the description and definition. This research found that hunger existed at two levels, household and individual, and that each level had quantitative, qualitative, psychological, and social components. Survey items were constructed to measure these components of hunger, and those assessed as most valid and reliable were combined to form a scale. Items from this research have been used in random surveys in Australia: two in a state survey and one in national surveys. The percentage of respondents who reported ''running out of food'' varied by state, ranging from 5% to 11%. This experience was reported more frequently than ''eating less than one should'' due to insufficient money. Socio-demographic factors associated with reported food insufficiency included younger age, lower income, unemployment, shared accommodation, having children, renting one's house, and being a single parent, female, or not married. The description of hunger developed in the U.S. may provide a useful framework for characterising this phenomenon in other industrialised countries, but is not necessarily directly applicable and should be verified with additional investigation.