Food insecurity refers to the lack of access to safe, nutritious food in sufficient quantities to meet people’s needs, which can have serious consequences on their physical and mental health. In recent years, food insecurity has worsened in many parts of the world, including Latin America. Recent reports by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2023) have shown that food insecurity in many countries has worsened post-pandemic.
This article summarises the state of food insecurity in Chile, how it has changed in recent years, its measurement and its relevance for the discourse on income and multidimensional poverty. We focus on Chile to illustrate the severity of the food situation in recent years, especially when looking at data beyond national averages in a relatively high-income country with visible inequalities.