Food Security Measurements and Indicators

The FAO Method Estimates calories per capita at the country level using Food Balance Sheets and energy intake variance data derived from household income and expenditure surveys. Countries need the following information to be able to apply this method: i) total calories available in year of interest; ii) number of people living in country in year of interest; iii) coefficient of variation of caloric intake to generate the energy intake distribution curve; iv) cut-off point to estimate the proportion of the population falling under the minimum per capita average caloric requirement.

Advantage: • Inexpensive, • applied worldwide on an annual basis Disadvantage:

• Does not identify at risk households, • Dietary quality not taken into account • High measurement error • Low standardization on data collection methods across countries

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