The Challenge of Measuring Hunger

There is widespread interest in the number of hungry people in the world and trends in hunger. Current global counts rely on combining each country's total food balance with information on distribution patterns from household consumption expenditure surveys. Recent research has advocated for calculating hunger numbers directly from these same surveys. For either approach, embedded in this effort are a number of important details about how household surveys are designed and how these data are then used. Using a survey experiment in Tanzania, this study finds great fragility in hunger counts stemming from alternative survey designs. As a consequence, comparable and valid hunger numbers will be lacking until more effort is made to either harmonize survey designs or better understand the consequences of survey design variation.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	De Weerdt, Joachim, Beegle, Kathleen, Friedman, Jed, Gibson, John
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2014-01
Subjects:	ACCESS TO FOOD, AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, AGRICULTURE, ANIMAL FEED, BREASTFEEDING, CALORIE AVAILABILITY, CALORIE CONTENT, CALORIE INTAKE, CALORIE REQUIREMENTS, CASSAVA, CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURES, DIET, DIETARY DIVERSITY, DIETARY ENERGY, ECONOMIC GROWTH, FAMILY MEMBERS, FOOD ACCESS, FOOD AVAILABILITY, FOOD COMPOSITION, FOOD CONSUMPTION, FOOD CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE, FOOD CONSUMPTION INFORMATION, FOOD CRISIS, FOOD DISTRIBUTION, FOOD INSECURITY, FOOD INTAKE, FOOD ITEMS, FOOD LOSSES, FOOD POLICY, FOOD POLICY RESEARCH, FOOD PRODUCTION, FOOD QUANTITY, FOOD RECALL, FOOD STOCKS, FOODS, FRUIT, GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY, GLOBAL HUNGER, GLOBAL POVERTY, HOUSEHOLD BUDGET, HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION, HOUSEHOLD FOOD, HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY, HOUSEHOLD SIZE, HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS, HUMAN ENERGY, HUNGER, HUNGRY, HUNGRY PEOPLE, INCOME, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, INEQUALITY, INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, LIVING STANDARDS, MALNUTRITION, METABOLISM, NUTRIENT, NUTRITION, NUTRITION INTERVENTIONS, NUTRITION POLICIES, NUTRITIONISTS, POLITICAL ECONOMY, POOR, POTATOES, POVERTY ESTIMATES, POVERTY MEASUREMENT, POVERTY REDUCTION, PROTEIN, RICE, ROOT CROPS, RURAL, RURAL AREAS, RURAL SETTINGS, SNACKS, SWEET POTATOES, TARGETING, TUBERS, WORLD FOOD SUMMIT,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/01/18741920/challenge-measuring-hunger https://hdl.handle.net/10986/16814
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