Global Food Security Index Examines Core Food Issues

The Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Global Food Security Index (GFSI) developed by the EIU and sponsored by DuPont, is now available to examine the core issues of food affordability, availability, and quality across 105 developed and developing countries worldwide. The index is a dynamic benchmarking model that uses quantitative and qualitative indicators to provide a standard against which countries can be measured.

The Index states that the U.S., Denmark, France and the Netherlands are the most food secure countries in the world. Several sub-Saharan African countries are in the bottom third of the index, including Mozambique, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Niger.

"The rapid rise of emerging markets has increased demand for food of all kinds, but investment and productivity of new supplies haven't always kept up," said Leo Abruzzese, Director of Global Forecasting, EIU. "Filling the gaps in national food security networks requires a more careful understanding of where the weaknesses are and how to address them."

Several policy and nutrition-related indicators, including access to farmer financing, the presence of food safety net programs, protein quality and diet diversification, are highly correlated with overall food security. The Global Food Security Index 2012 is for download on the EIU website at http://www.eiu.com/FoodSecurityIndex.

To view Global Food Security Index website with an interactive visualization of the index results, visit http://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/.