Table 2 Summary of characterization of national level food security indicators
From: A systematic literature review of indicators measuring food security
Indicators | Description/method | Recall period | Level of analysis | Dimension covered | Components covered | Possible purpose | Validity and Reliability | Data requirement and availability | Strengths and weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Estimates the proportion of a population with dietary energy deficiency relative to the minimum calorie requirement of an average individual in the population Derived from three parameters: amount of available calorie for domestic consumption, minimum amount of calorie required by the population, and inequality in access to the available calories Expressed as a percentage of undernourished households relative to the total population | 1Â year | National | Availability | Quantity | Estimate prevalence of undernourishment Monitor trends in undernourishment at national and global levels | National food balance sheets (FAO); Household Income and Expenditure Surveys; official data on population size and composition | It provides insight into levels and trends of undernourishment; facilitate global and regional FS governance. Yet, it does not provide information on the actual distribution of the number of hungry people within the population; proxy of calorie availability for calorie intake; energy deficiency is not a valid measure of FI; micronutrients are not considered, overstate food availability in FBS due to not accounting for food losses | ||
Global Food Security Index (GFSI) [26] | Composite index (0–100) by aggregating multiple indicators, using expert weights, or weighting methods: DEA and PCA | 1 year | National | All four | Quantity, Quality, Safety | Analysing the factors influencing food security Monitoring FS at global level | Valid and reliable | EIU | It provides insights into the vulnerability of a nation’s food system by attributing to the causes. Yet, it focuses on analysis of FS determinants, and do not measure FS outcomes |
Global Hunger Index (GHI) | Composite indicator for analysing the extent, trend and cause of hunger worldwide Calculated as the arithmetic mean of three components of hunger: undernourishment, child underweight and stunning and child mortality Five GHI categories, which are determined based on randomly selected cut-off points | 1Â year | National | Access, Utilisation | Quantity, Quality, Safety | Estimate prevalence of hunger Monitor trends in poverty at national and global levels | Not valid and low reliability as it depends on POU | FAO (prevalence of undernutrition), WHO (child underweight), UNICEF (child morality) | It provides insight into levels & trends of hunger; facilitate global and regional poverty governance. Suffers from double counting arising from the correlation of the three components of hunger used to construct GHI |
Composite index (0–100) covering all the four dimensions of FS. The multiple dimensions and indicators are normalised, and then aggregated using a set of weights, for example based on PCA | 1 year | National | All four | All | Estimate prevalence of FI Monitor trends in FS at national and global levels | Validity and reliability not demonstrated | FAO compiles annual data for different countries, and are openly accessible at FAOSTAT | It accounts for all the FS dimensions and components, provides insight into levels & trends of FI; facilitate global and regional FS governance, availability of data from FAO. No standardised weighting and normalisation methods |