60% of the poor in Albania do not have enough food, according to WB

Empty saucepan after cooking (archive)

 Analyzing the sustainable global development set out in the United Nations targets by 2031, the World Bank analyzed that, still a larger percentage of people especially in developing and poor countries face food insecurity, which includes limited access to food, lack of variety of food and its poor quality.

According to the World Bank, the poor population in Albania, which is included in the lower 20% of income, is highly exposed to food insecurity.

According to the attached graph, 60% of the poor population in Albania are exposed to a lack of food and its poor quality. In contrast, the rich have a lower exposure, as slightly less than 10% of them are exposed to this phenomenon. Albania ranks among the European countries with the highest exposure of the poor to food insecurity. Worse than Albania are only a few African countries, as Monitor reports.

With the economic crisis created by Covid-19, the malnourished population is growing, after a decade-long decline. The World Bank analyzes that malnutrition is closely linked to a lack of food security. Food insecurity manifests itself in different ways. These range from uncertainty about the ability to get food, ie having to compromise on the quality and variety of food, to not eating for a whole day.

Lack of food security addresses the complexity of hunger. This indicator differs from the others by coming out of a direct survey with families with 8 questions and over a range of experiences of food insecurity in each country. Their answers are used to determine the probability that a family will experience moderate or severe food insecurity.

Severe food insecurity is closely linked to malnutrition or experiencing hunger. Although moderate food insecurity may not directly signal malnutrition, it does affect the vulnerable population to malnutrition and poor health. In fact, when comparing countries with similar levels of malnutrition and poverty, the 2019 Food Report reveals that moderate food insecurity is also significantly associated with overweight.

Today, one in four people worldwide experience moderate or severe food insecurity, and one in eleven experiences severe food insecurity. Most of the nearly 1.3 billion out of 2 billion families experiencing food insecurity are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

While Albanian Institute of State Statistics data show that Albania has the highest share of food expenditures in Europe in the total basket, an indirect indicator of poverty. According to data referring to 2019, about 41% of total expenditures went to food, compared to 34% in Kosovo, 33% in northern Macedonia, 27% in Bosnia and less than 24% in Serbia and Montenegro. While the European Union average of the weight of food in total consumption expenditure is 12%.