Author:

• Lucas de Almeida Moura - Moura, LA - <lucasdemoura@usp.br>
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4927-4980

Co-author(s):

• Dirce Maria Lobo Marchioni - Marchioni, DML - <marchioni@usp.br>
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6810-5779

Abstract:

This study investigates the association between food insecurity and indicators of literacy, unemployment and income in Brazil between 2013 and 2023. The effect of these indicators on the evolution of food insecurity in the different regions of the country was analyzed. Ecological study with data available for the years 2013, 2018, 2022 and 2023 on the prevalence of food insecurity obtained from the PNAD, POF and II VIGISAN surveys and literacy, employment and income indicators provided by the IBGE. A panel data regression model was used to estimate the association between the variables. Food insecurity was positively associated with the unemployment rate (β = 0.92, p-value = 0.03) and negatively with the literacy rate (β = -1.28, p-value = 0.05). The effect of the economic climate - represented by region and year - was higher in the North (β = 9.31, p-value = 0.04) and in 2022 (β = 37.61, p-value < 0.001) and lower in 2023 (β = 5.88, p-value < 0.001). The population's average income was not associated, but remained stagnant from 2013 to 2022. The reduction in the literacy rate, the increase in the unemployment rate and the stagnation of the average income contributed to the evolution of the food insecurity panorama in Brazil from 2013 to 2023, emphasizing the influence of the instability of socioeconomic factors and the regional and temporal context for the worsening of hunger in the country.

Keywords:

Food insecurity; Socioeconomic factors; Sustainable development indicators.

Content:

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