Prevalence of food insecurity among food bank users in Germany and its association with population characteristics

Abstract

The prevalence of food insecurity (FI) among food bank users in many European countries is unknown. The study aims to examine FI prevalence and associated population characteristics among this particular group of disadvantaged people in Germany. Food insecurity status was assessed among 1033 adult food bank users with a mean age of 53 years (57% female, 43% male) in Germany in 2015 using the food insecurity experience scale (FIES). About half of the participants (55.8%) were single with no children and born in Germany. Over 37% had a self-reported BMI of 30 kg/m2 or above and 37.4% indicated to smoke.Over 70% of the food bank users can be described as food insecure. Of those, about 35% were considered mildly food insecure. Almost 30% were categorized as moderately food insecure while over 7% were categorized as severely food insecure. Significant associations with food insecurity were found for gender, age, subjective health status, smoking, duration of food bank use, school education and family type. Among this socially disadvantaged population, food insecurity is highly prevalent and public health efforts should be focusing on this vulnerable population taken into account the identified population and behavioral characteristics associated with food insecurity.

Households’ Food Insecurity in the V4 Countries: Microeconometric Analysis

“…Smith, Rabbitt and Coleman-Jensen, 2017) it is found that the most vulnerable people to food insecurity usually have the low level of education and they are unemployed. Consistent with the findings of studies carried out in other countries, our study found that female-headed households are more likely to be food insecure than a man-headed household (Magaña-Lemus et al, 2016;Martin-Fernandez et al, 2013) and food insecurity is positively correlated with poor self-reported health (Alvarez et al, 2015;Depa et al, 2018). Our results also confirm the inverted U-shape relationship between the age of the HH and the prevalence of FI found for middle-income and high-income economies in the literature (Smith, Rabbitt and Coleman-Jensen, 2017).…”

“…In-depth examination of the food insecurity profile in these countries can be an interesting issue for readers not only from the V4 but also for researchers outside of these countries. First of all, up to now microeconometric analyses of food insecurity in the EU have focused mainly on the situation in Western European countries, such as France (Martin-Fernandez et al, 2013) or Germany (Depa et al, 2018). Instead, this paper sheds a light on the situation of households in Central European countries, filling to some extent the gap in this regard.…”

The Prevalence and Socio-Demographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Poland

“…The FIES also serves as one of two indicators chosen to monitor Target 2.1 of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Target 2.1 aims to end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and those in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round, by 2030) [ 16 , 17 ]. The FIES is a relatively new approach in measuring FI, but has been used numerous times for assessing FI in the global context [ 15 , 18 , 19 ] and in selected countries or regions [ 20 , 21 , 22 ].…”

“…Most research on FI in Europe is focused mainly on the situation in Western European countries, such as the United Kingdom [ 23 ], Ireland [ 24 ], and Germany [ 20 ]. This paper sheds a light on the situation of households in Poland, a central European middle-income country.…”

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“…Por se tratar de um grupo com fortes carências alimentares que condicionam o seu bem-estar físico e psicológico, geralmente, a vulnerabilidade é caracterizada como extrema (Loopstra e Lalor, 2017). Depa, Gyngell, Muller, Eleraky, Hilzendegen e Stroebele-Benschop (2018) caracterizam os beneficiários de IAA´s não só como pertencentes a um grupo vulnerável, mas também a uma "população socialmente desfavorecida", reforçando assim a ligação entre vulnerabilidade e desigualdade social, previamente enunciada por Silva (1995).…”