• Highlights

• The proportion of households undergoing some degree of food insecurity in the country fell from 27.6% to 24.2% between 2023 and 2024. This figure represents 2.2 million fewer households facing this condition.
• During this same period, mild food insecurity fell from 18.2% to 16.4%; moderate food insecurity fell from 5.3% to 4.5%; and severe food insecurity fell from 4.1% to 3.2%.
• The North (37.7%) and Northeast (34.8%) Regions had the highest proportions of food insecurity across all three levels (mild, moderate, and severe), with the most severe levels recorded in 6.3% and 4.8% of households in these Major Regions, respectively.
• Food insecurity affected more households in rural areas (31.3%) than in urban areas (23.2%). Three in five households (59.9%) undergoing food insecurity had women as heads of household, while men were the heads in 40.1% of these households.
• In food insecure households, brown persons were the heads in more than half of cases (54.7%), followed by whites (28.5%) and blacks (15.7%).
• In cases of severe food insecurity, the share of households with a brown head of household rose to 56.9%, more than twice as much as the share of those with a white head of household (24.4%).
• The share of severely food insecure households in which the heads of household had completed primary school was 65.7%. Among food secure households, 64.9% had heads of household with at least an incomplete secondary education. Food insecurity decreases as residents age: 3.3% of the population aged 0 to 4 and 3.8% of the population aged 5 to 17 faced severe food insecurity, while among the population aged 65 and over, this proportion was 2.3%.
• Two in three (66.1%) households with a per capita income of up to one minimum wage were food insecure. This proportion rises to 71.9% among households with a per capita income of up to one minimum wage and experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity.

The number of households with people facing some degree of food insecurity fell to 18.9 million, representing 2.2 million fewer households in this condition between 2023 and 2024. Proportionally, the number of households fell from 27.6% to 24.2% in this same period, indicating that nearly one in four households is still food insecure. Consequently, the proportion of food secure households increased from 72.4% to 75.8%.

Data, released today (10) by the IBGE, are from the Food Security module of the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), conducted through a partnership with the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger. This module is part of a series of results on this topic, already collected in the former PNAD (2004, 2009, 2013) and in the 2017-2018 Expenditure Survey (POF). Although these surveys are not directly comparable, the IBGE has maintained a five-year pattern which makes it possible to trace the trajectory of the country's fight against hunger. The lowest food insecurity rate in this series was 22.6% in the 2013 PNAD.

The survey classifies food insecurity into three levels:

• Mild food insecurity: concern or uncertainty about access to food and reduction in quality so as not to affect quantity;
• Moderate food insecurity: lack of quality and reduction in quantity of food among adults;
• Severe food insecurity: lack of quality and reduced quantity of food, also among those under 18. In this situation, hunger becomes a real experience at home.

All three levels of food insecurity fell from 2023 to 2024: mild, from 18.2% to 16.4%; moderate, from 5.3% to 4.5%; and severe, from 4.1% to 3.2%. Regarding the severe level, this percentage represents 2.5 million families facing quantitative food deprivation, affecting adults, children, and adolescents alike.

The remainder is temporarily in Portuguese.

Proportion of households with food insecurity is higher in the North and Northeast

The North (37.7%) and Northeast (34.8%) had the highest proportions of food insecurity across all three levels (mild, moderate, and severe), with the most severe level recorded in 6.3% and 4.8% of households, respectively. Among the other Major Regions, food insecurity reached 20.5% of households in the Central-West, 19.6% in the Southeast, and 13.5% in the South.

The rate of severe food insecurity in the North was almost four times higher compared to the South (1.7%), which was the Major Region with the lowest proportion of food insecure households.

The number of households with food insecurity was higher in the Northeast (7.2 million), followed by the Southeast (6.6 million), North (2.2 million), South (1.6 million), and Central-West (1.3 million). "In absolute terms, the Southeast region, because it concentrates the majority of the population, has a high number of households experiencing food insecurity. It is one thing to look at it proportionally, with the worst situations in the North and Northeast. But when we look at the numbers, it is in the Northeast and Southeast where we can find the worst scenario," explains survey analyst Maria Lucia Vieira.

Almost all Federation Units saw improvements in food insecurity between 2023 and 2024. The exceptions were Roraima, which increased from 36.4% to 43.6%; the Federal District, which increased from 26.5% to 27.0%; Amapá, which increased from 30.7% to 32.5%; and Tocantins, which rose from 28.9% to 29.6%. On the other hand, nine states had a food insecurity rate below 20%: Santa Catarina (9.4%), Espírito Santo (13.5%), Rio Grande do Sul (14.8%), Paraná (15.3%), Goiás (17.9%), Mato Grosso do Sul (18.5%), Rondônia (18.5%), São Paulo (19.3%), and Minas Gerais (19.5%).

The highest percentages of food insecure households were in Pará (44.6%), Roraima (43.6%), Amazonas (38.9%), Bahia (37.8%), Pernambuco (35.3%), Maranhão (35.2%), Alagoas (35%), and Sergipe (35%). The states with the highest levels of severe food insecurity were Amapá (9.3%), Amazonas (7.2%), and Pará (7.0%).

Proportionally, food insecurity affected more households in rural areas (31.3%) than in urban areas (23.2%). At the most severe level of food insecurity, the percentage of households in rural areas reached 4.6%, while in urban areas it was 3.0%.

"These data somewhat contradict our intuition that in rural areas, people grow their own food, and therefore food insecurity there would be lower. However, some rural households have lower per capita income and a greater presence of children, meaning that, even with agricultural cultivation, food can be limited and lacking in variety, failing to guarantee either quantity or quality," Maria Lucia assesses.

Women and black and brown persons were the majority among those ahead of food insecure households

In food insecure households, women were responsible for 59.9% of them, while men were responsible for 40.1%. The largest difference was in the moderate level of food insecurity, with 61.9% of households headed by women, while the percentage for men was 38.1%.

Although the share of women (51.3%) as household heads was slightly higher than that of men (48.2%), when looking at food-secure households, this ratio reversed, with men being responsible for 50.8% and women, 49.2%.

The figures also show inequality by race or color. In the context of food insecurity, households with white heads accounted for 28.5%, those with brown heads accounted for 54.7%, and those with black heads accounted for 15.7%. In cases of severe food insecurity, the share of households with brown heads rose to 56.9%, more than twice the share of households with white heads (24.4%).

Households with a white head of household (45.7%) represented the largest portion of those within food security, above households with brown (42.0%) and black (11.1%) heads of households.

Education level also influenced the degree of food insecurity. In 2024, 51.5% of households experiencing food insecurity had heads of households with at least primary education, reaching 65.7% in severe cases. Among those with at least an incomplete secondary education, 48.5% were food-insecure and 34.3% were severely food-insecure households.

Among households within food security, 35.1% had heads of households with at least a primary education, while 64.9% of households had heads of households with at least an incomplete secondary education.

When analyzing the occupations of heads of households facing food insecurity, 17.0% were self-employed, 8.6% were unregistered private employees, 6.5% were domestic workers, and 47.5% were other cases (auxiliary family workers, unemployed individuals, and people outside the workforce). In the case of households under severe food insecurity, 15.5% had heads of households who were self-employed, 8.3% were employed with a formal contract, and 6.7% were domestic workers.

In cases where the head of household was employed in the private sector with a formal contract, 23.4% of households were food secure, the highest percentage among all categories. Meanwhile, those without formal contracts accounted for only 6.6%. Food secure households with a domestic worker as their head of household represented 3.4%. According to the survey analyst, the distribution of food secure households by occupational status follows a very similar proportion when compared to the distribution of total households.

Food insecurity decreases as the age of residents increases

The data also show greater vulnerability to food insecurity in households where children or adolescents lived: 3.3% of the population aged 0 to 4 years and 3.8% of the population aged 5 to 17 years lived with severe food insecurity. Among the population aged 65 and over, this proportion was lower, at 2.3%.

As age increased, the proportion of those living in food-secure households increased. "The older population has a higher average income; these are still active financial contributors, whether through work or retirement," explains Ms. Vieira.

In food-insecure households, 69.8% had up to 3 residents, 28.2% had 4 to 6 residents, and 2.0% had 7 or more residents. Meanwhile, 67.4% of mildly food-insecure households had up to 3 residents, and 1.8% had 7 or more. Among severely food-insecure households, 76.1% had up to 3 residents, 21.1% had 4 to 6 residents, and 2.9% had 7 or more residents.

In food-secure households, 75.7% had up to 3 residents, 23.5% had 4 to 6 residents, and only 0.7% had 7 or more residents.

Two in three households with a per capita income of up to one minimum wage were food insecure

Cases of moderate or severe food insecurity were concentrated in households with a monthly per capita income of up to a quarter of the minimum wage (13.4%), up to half the minimum wage (21.2%), and up to one minimum wage (31.5%). Combined, these three income ranges accounted for approximately two-thirds of food insecure households (66.1%). Households with incomes above two minimum wages accounted for 7.4% of cases.

Furthermore, these three lowest income ranges represented only 1% of all households in the country, but accounted for 71.9% of cases of moderate or severe food insecurity. Households with per capita incomes above two minimum wages accounted for 3.9% of cases of moderate or severe food insecurity, despite representing more than a fifth of all households (24.4%).

In rural areas, the three lowest income ranges accounted for 61.7% of food insecure households, while this percentage was 38.4% in urban areas. In rural areas, 82.2% of moderately or severely food insecure households were reported in the three lowest income ranges: 27.5% for households earning up to a quarter of the minimum wage, 29.0% for households earning up to half the minimum wage, and 25.7% for households earning up to one minimum wage. This demonstrates the higher incidence and concentration of moderate or severe food insecurity in the lowest income ranges.