Sustainable Development Goals - 17 Goals to Transform our World
Zero hunger - Goal 2

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Indicator 2.1.1: Prevalence of undernourishment

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Prevalence of undernourishment

This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from US statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from US statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other US-specific metadata information.

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U.S. method of computation
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This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator name Prevalence of undernourishment
Target name By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
Global indicator description The Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU) is defined as the probability that a randomly selected individual from the reference population is found to consume less than his/her calorie requirement for an active and healthy life. It is written as: ______ = ' __(__)____ __<________ where f(x) is the probability density function of per capita calorie consumption and MDER is a Minimum Dietary Energy Requirement. The MDER threshold is computed on the basis of normative energy requirement standards referred to a minimum level of physical activity. Estimates of the number of undernourished (NoU) - calculated by multiplying the PoU by the size of the reference population - are used to monitor progress towards the World Food Summit goal of reducing by half the number of people suffering from undernourishment. The parameters needed for the calculation of the indicator are: the mean level of dietary energy consumption (DEC); a cut-off point defined as the Minimum Dietary Energy Requirement (MDER); the coefficient of variation (CV) as a parameter accounting for inequality in food consumption; and a skewedness (SK) parameter accounting for asymmetry in the distribution. The DEC as well as the MDER are updated annually, with the former calculated from the FAO Food Balance Sheets. The MDER is calculated as a weighted average of energy requirements according to sex and age class, and is updated each year from UN population ratio data. The inequality in food consumption parameters are derived from National Household Survey data when such data is available and reliable. Due to the limited number of available household surveys, the inequality in food access parameters are updated much less frequently over time than the DEC and MDER parameters.
UN designated tier 1
UN custodial agency FAO
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