Foodbank Australia's annual 2023 hunger report revealed that 3.7M Australian households have suffered from food insecurity over the past 12 months.
Australian households were found to be severely food insecure as they were skipping meals for days due to the cost-of-living crisis and increased population.
Contributing Factors of Food Insecurity in Australia
Croatians eat a meal of beans during as others gather at Zagrebs Maksimir park to mark May Day or Labour Day in Zagreb on May 1, 2019 . - Many people, notably the elderly, use the opportunity to have a traditional free meal beans distributed for the occasion as they struggle with the difficult economic situation.
The Foodbank's 2023 survey report in July revealed that compared with 2022, about 383,000 additional households struggled to put food on the table.
In 2022, 64% of households' common factor was the issue of cost-of-living, which increased in 2023 to 77%. Other factors were low-income employment and inadequate welfare payments, with 42% of respondents saying that was a contributing factor.
Furthermore, more than half (60%) of all food-insecure households had someone pay for work in 2022.
According to Micheal Coe, a breadwinner of an Australian family, he lost his job last December due to an ongoing illness. His wife became the breadwinner and parted with Coe's disability pension, insufficient to put food on the table for their growing family.
"With three children and a disability, our family's income is not enough with the [high] cost of living," Coe said.
The family rented a three-bedroom house in Adelaide's northern suburbs for $450 weekly. Coe was anxious to keep paying the rent for life as he wished to provide housing security for his family, but he also knew that it would be impossible due to low income.
Coe also shared how difficult it was for the family to find a home when the cost of living and rent was so high. He suggested that rent assistance should go up or that people were to buy investment properties so that people could save enough for other expenses.
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Foodbank Taken Aback by Increasing 'Food Insecure' Australian Households
The Foodbank revealed that over a third of the population was forced to skip meals. As reported in ABC News, the survey increased to 50% as people have difficulty meeting the most basic needs.
Foodbank Australia's CEO, Brianna Casey, said the country was in a food security crisis. She added that 77% are experiencing food insecurity for the first time.
The number of households experiencing chronic food insecurity remained steady at about 750,000.
"When you are facing increased mortgages or increased rental costs, something's got to give, and for many, it's food," Casey said.
In addition, people's shopping habits were changing 48% of respondents reported reducing purchases of fresh produce and protein, which could have elapsed health effects.
According to a recent federal submission, Dietitians Australia reported around of preventable deaths attributable to unhealthy eating was around 28,000 per year.
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