A new UN report shows that New Zealand has much higher rates of food insecurity than comparable countries – and those rates are growing.
Late last week, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation released its 2024 report into the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, compiling information from member countries, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank. The report showed that out of all the regions of the world, Oceania is the only one where the prevalence of food insecurity has worsened. That isn’t just happening in the poorer countries of the Pacific: an updated map tracking food insecurity shows the prevalence in New Zealand has increased from 10% in the years between 2014-2016 to 16.4% in the years from 2020-2023. Australia, which the UN includes in Oceania in the report, has also seen an increase, albeit not as stark: from 11.4% to 12.9%.
Other sources of data from New Zealand back this up. There are any number of reports from the past three years saying that demand for food parcels is at record highs around New Zealand, and more people are making use of food grants and food banks. The 2022-23 annual health survey by the Ministry of Health showed that more than one in five children lived in households where food ran out sometimes or often. For Māori and Pacific children, that rate was more than one in three. The rate was also higher for households with disabled children and in the lowest-income neighbourhoods. The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report released in February this year echoed these findings.
New Zealand’s worsening food insecurity sets this country apart from many other OECD countries, according to the FAO information. In Australia, the prevalence of moderate or severe food is 12.9% of the total population; in the US it’s 9.1% and Canada 8.5%. In UK the rate is just 5.7%. New Zealand’s 16.4% rate is similar to Malaysia at 16.7% and much higher than Viet Nam at 10.8% and Sri Lanka at 11.4%. However, these numbers don’t correspond to statistics about the prevalence of undernourishment: in Viet Nam 5.2% of the population is undernourished according to the latest data, while in New Zealand less than 2.5% of the population is undernourished.
The FAO defines moderate food insecurity as having “insufficient money or resources for a healthy diet; uncertainty about the ability to obtain food; skipping meals or running out of food occasionally”. Severe food insecurity is defined as “running out of food; going an entire day without eating at times during the year”. Because the moderate and severe food insecurity statistics are combined by the UN, it’s not clear how many fall into each category in New Zealand. Notably, food insecurity data is gathered relative to individuals – there are broader questions of food security for countries and regions, like asking what happens to food supplies after a disaster.
Worsening food insecurity has a number of causes. The impact of inflation on food has been well-documented: food prices have steadily increased in the last four years in New Zealand, with basic items spiking in cost. Inflation data shows, however, that the growth in food prices may be slowing.
It’s a global trend: the UNFAO report cites food price rises as a key reason healthy diets remain out of reach for many. Consistent inflation and supply issues caused by Covid and the war in Ukraine have exacerbated this too. While it doesn’t break this data down to country level, the UN’s calculation says that in the Oceania region, the cost of a healthy diet per person per day averaged 3.46 PPP dollars (meaning the number has been adjusted for differences in inflation, currency exchange rate and prices across countries). While this is lower than other regions, the high cost of living in New Zealand compared to income is well known.
In 2017, seven million people in Oceania, 15% of the population, couldn’t afford a healthy diet; by 2022, that number had increased to 9.1 million people and 20.2% of the population, compared to 4.8% in northern America and Europe.
Food insecurity is also strongly associated with other markers of deprivation: a 2019 study by New Zealand’s Ministry of Health found that households with incomes lower than $50,000 were much more likely to be food insecure. More than 50% of children whose primary caregiver was receiving a benefit (ie Jobseeker, Sole Parent Support, Supported Living) were living in food-insecure conditions, compared to 12% of children whose caregivers did not receive a benefit. Renters, particularly those in social housing, experienced more than six times as much food insecurity as people who lived in households that were owned. Households with more children, and with single parents, experienced more food insecurity too. In general, household spending had increased 23% in the four years to 2023, with food spending one of the biggest increases.
The number of people receiving a main benefit at the start of this year had increased from the start of 2022 (although it didn’t reach the numbers in 2021, at the peak of Covid) – a sign that the economic insecurity that causes food hardship is increasing. Child poverty statistics show that poverty experienced by households with children has increased, partially because incomes haven’t kept pace with inflation. That has a direct impact on nutrition. “To keep costs down, a greater proportion of households were more likely to go without things like fresh fruit and vegetables and buy cheaper or less meat than in previous years,” Stats NZ’s Abby Johnston said, when the latest child poverty data was released in February.
Food insecurity has a devastating impact. Teenagers experiencing food poverty in New Zealand have an achievement gap averaging out to being four years behind their peers. It’s also associated with other poor health outcomes, like nutrient deficiencies, diabetes and obesity, asthma and development difficulties for kids. While food poverty affects people of all ages, kids and pregnant people are particularly impacted, with potential life-long impacts.
What’s being done about food insecurity in NZ?
There are some policies already in place: food grants are offered by Work and Income for people who can’t pay for food, although various requirements apply. School lunches, through the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, are available in some schools, although the government has recently changed the range of meals on offer. There are food banks (although ssome have experienced funding cuts recently), pātaka kai, and community meals available in many parts of the country – there’s a full map available on Kore Hiakai here. A grocery commissioner has been appointed to supervise New Zealand’s grocery sector, although there are questions about whether this has lessened the power of the two big supermarket chains.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) released a policy briefing ahead of the 2023 election, with some more ideas for reducing food insecurity in Aotearoa, especially for children. Some of the suggestions included funding food programmes for the school holidays, when free school meals aren’t available, increasing the ability to buy or get food from non-supermarket options like markets and community gardens, and to work with iwi, hapū and local communities to create regional and national food security policies. The briefing also notes that other measures to solve poverty as a whole, like ensuring that everyone has a liveable income, will reduce food insecurity. This would also help New Zealand meet its targets for the UN Sustainable Development Goals which include ending poverty, ending hunger, ensuring good wellbeing for all and reducing inequality.
The world has more than enough food for everyone currently alive, although growing it sustainably and eliminating waste continue to be problems. As the UN report acknowledges, solving food insecurity will ultimately require money to finance structural solutions in addition to supporting individuals and communities who don’t have enough food right now. For New Zealand, the food insecurity here – as well as in our neighbours through Oceania (Fiji’s prevalence of food insecurity is 29.2% and Papua New Guinea’s is 57.3%, for instance) – makes funding solutions all the more urgent.
