Around 1 in 3 Albanians faces moderate or severe food insecurity, according to FAO estimates for the 2023–2025 period. Although the indicator improved by 1.2 percentage points within a year, Albania continues to have a significantly higher rate compared with Europe and other Western Balkan countries.
In Albania, food insecurity affects around 32% of the population, while the European average stands at 7.4%. In Southern Europe, the rate is even lower, at 5.8%. This means that Albania’s rate is approximately 4.3 times higher than the European average and 5.5 times higher than that of Southern Europe.
The difference is also significant compared with other countries in the region. For the 2023–2025 period, moderate or severe food insecurity is estimated to affect 9.2% of the population in North Macedonia, 9% in Montenegro, 8.7% in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 6.7% in Serbia.
Of Albania’s total population, 8.3% face severe food insecurity. This includes situations in which families do not have enough food, are forced to reduce their food intake, experience hunger, or go an entire day without eating due to a lack of money or other resources.
However, improvements have been recorded in some indicators related to child nutrition. The percentage of children under the age of five affected by stunted physical growth fell from 16.5% in 2012 to 7.4% in 2024, while the prevalence of overweight children in this age group declined from 20.9% to 16.7%.
The post FAO Report Data Released: How Many Albanians Face Food Insecurity? appeared first on Euronews Albania.
