United Nations report says more than a half of Jamaica’s population experienced food insecurity between 2021 and 2023

A United Nations report published today has indicated that 55.1% of Jamaica’s population or approximately 1.6 million people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity between 2021 and 2023.

Only Haiti in the Caribbean region had a higher food insecurity prevalence at 82.8%.

The Latin America and Caribbean Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2024 report noted that Jamaica’s food insecurity prevalence increased by 4.8% between 2021 and 2023, compared to the three years prior.

Food insecurity was also higher among men at 56% compared to 54.2% for women.

The UN further noted that in 2022, approximately 22.1% of Jamaicans or around 600,000 people could not afford a healthy diet.

This is one of the lowest proportions in the Caribbean comparing favorably to countries like Trinidad and Tobago where nearly 40% of the population could not afford a healthy diet.

The UN highlighted that Jamaica had one of the highest costs for a healthy diet in the region, estimated at 6.42 PPP dollars per person per day in 2022, marking a significant increase from previous years in line with the general trend across the Caribbean.

The report also emphasized Jamaica’s vulnerability to global food supply disruptions, as the country is a net importer of agricultural food products and affected by climate variability and extremes.

Meanwhile, the report stated that the prevalence of wasting or low weight-for-height among children under five in Jamaica was 3.2%, close to the global target of keeping it below 3%.

Between 2012 and 2022, Jamaica managed to reduce the prevalence of obesity among children under five by 1.2 percentage points.

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