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Food insecurity, poverty and income distribution in Brazil

Abstract

This study analyses the relationship between income distribution, poverty, and food insecurity in Brazil, using data from the 2004, 2009 and 2013 National Household Sample Surveys (PNAD), and the 2017-2018 Household Budget Survey (POF). In these four surveys, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) collected information on food insecurity, at the national level, by applying the Brazilian Scale of Food Insecurity (EBIA). Given its importance, an initial section is devoted to discussing the very concept of food security. It is verified that the dynamics of income distribution is the fundamental conditioning factor of the dynamics of food insecurity in the country. Regression analyses show that food insecurity measured by EBIA, at different levels, is strongly related to poverty. In addition, the results also suggest that the strong growth of food insecurity, particularly the mild and, with less intensity, the moderate food insecurity, from 2013 to 2017-2018, is due, in part, to the partially subjective character of the measure of food insecurity constructed from the EBIA, being associated with the disillusionment due to the worsening of economic conditions after a long period (2003-2014) of improving living conditions for the Brazilian population.

Keywords:
income distribution; poverty; food insecurity; Brazil


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