FAOSTAT: Food and Diet: Availability (based on supply utilization accounts)

Supply utilization accounts (SUA) present a comprehensive picture of the pattern of a country's food supply during a specified reference period. The total quantity of foodstuffs produced in a country added to the total quantity imported and adjusted to any change in stocks that may have occurred since the beginning of the reference period gives the supply available during that period. On the utilization side a distinction is made between the quantities exported, fed to livestock, used for seed, put to manufacture for food use and non-food uses, losses during storage and transportation, and food supplies available for human consumption. The per caput supply of each such food item available for human consumption is then obtained by dividing the respective quantity by the related data on the population actually partaking of it. Data on per caput food supplies are expressed in terms of quantity and - by applying appropriate food composition factors for all primary and processed products - also in terms of caloric value and protein and fat content.

A food balance sheet presents a comprehensive picture of the pattern of a country's food supply during a specified reference period. The food balance sheet shows for each food item - i.e. each primary commodity and a number of processed commodities potentially available for human consumption - the sources of supply and its utilization. The total quantity of foodstuffs produced in a country added to the total quantity imported and adjusted to any change in stocks that may have occurred since the beginning of the reference period gives the supply available during that period. On the utilization side a distinction is made between the quantities exported, fed to livestock, used for seed, put to manufacture for food use and non-food uses, losses during storage and transportation, and food supplies available for human consumption. The per caput supply of each such food item available for human consumption is then obtained by dividing the respective quantity by the related data on the population actually partaking of it. Data on per capita food supplies are expressed in terms of quantity and - by applying appropriate food composition factors for all primary and processed products - also in terms of caloric value and protein and fat content.

The quantitative food consumption and nutrient intake statistics were computed by the Food and Nutrition Division (ESN) from representative individual quantitative dietary data available in the FAO/WHO GIFT platform (https://www.fao.org/gift-individual-food-consumption/en). The individual quantitative dietary data is collected through 24-hour recalls or food records, including detailed information on all foods and beverages actually consumed by individuals, at-home and away from home, in a reference period (usually the past 24 hours). Individual quantitative dietary data have the unique benefit to provide sex-age disaggregated detailed information to develop targeted agricultural-, nutrition- and food-related evidence-based policies and programs, food based dietary guidelines, food fortification programs and to study diet-disease associations. Individual quantitative dietary data are also essential for dietary exposure assessments in the area of food safety and have been used for a variety of other purposes such as estimating the environmental impact of diets and identifying less resource-intensive food consumption patterns.

Food Balance Sheet presents a comprehensive picture of the pattern of a country's food supply during a specified reference period. The food balance sheet shows for each food item - i.e. each primary commodity and a number of processed commodities potentially available for human consumption - the sources of supply and its utilization. The total quantity of foodstuffs produced in a country added to the total quantity imported and adjusted to any change in stocks that may have occurred since the beginning of the reference period gives the supply available during that period. On the utilization side a distinction is made between the quantities exported, fed to livestock, used for seed, put to manufacture for food use and non-food uses, losses during storage and transportation, and food supplies available for human consumption. The per caput supply of each such food item available for human consumption is then obtained by dividing the respective quantity by the related data on the population actually partaking of it. Data on per caput food supplies are expressed in terms of quantity and - by applying appropriate food composition factors for all primary and processed products - also in terms of caloric value and protein and fat content.

The Suite of Food Security Indicators presents the core set of food security indicators. Following the recommendation of experts gathered in the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) Round Table on hunger measurement, hosted at FAO headquarters in September 2011, an initial set of indicators aiming to capture various aspects of food insecurity is presented here. The choice of the indicators has been informed by expert judgement and the availability of data with sufficient coverage to enable comparisons across regions and over time. Many of these indicators are produced and published elsewhere by FAO and other international organizations. They are reported here in a single database with the aim of building a wide food security information system. More indicators will be added to this set as more data will become available. Indicators are classified along the four dimensions of food security -- availability, access, utilization and stability.

The food and nutrient apparent consumption statistics were computed from Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey (HCES) data. HCES is an umbrella term for household-level surveys developed to inform economic policy, such as Household Budget Surveys, Household Income Expenditure Surveys, and Living Standard Measurement Surveys. These surveys collect information on household characteristics (e.g., region and urban-rural), household members characteristics (e.g., sex, age, education, food and non-food expenditures, etc.), and food quantities consumed and/or acquired during a reference period. Despite their limitations HCES have been used for producing food and nutrient apparent consumption estimates at national and subnational levels for the whole population.