Food insecurity

Latest release

Information on people living in households that experience food insecurity in Australia

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Reference period
2023
Released
5/09/2025
Next release Unknown
First release
Release date and time
05/09/2025 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

  • Over one in eight (13.2% or 1.3 million) households experienced food insecurity in 2023
  • Lone parent family households with dependent children (34.0%) and group households (27.8%) were the most likely households to experience food insecurity

These statistics form part of the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NNPAS), which ran from January 2023 to March 2024. More information on other topics of interest from the survey are available on the NNPAS 2023 page.

Food security is a social determinant of health and can be used to describe whether an individual can access food in the quantity and quality that they need to live an active and healthy life[1][2]. Food insecure households are more likely to consume inadequate nutrients, have poorer diets and are at a greater risk of developing chronic conditions[2][3].

Definitions

Food insecurity

Around 8.7 million (or 86.1%) households were food secure at all times in the 12 months prior to interview. Over one in eight (13.2% or 1.3 million) households experienced food insecurity due to a lack of money for food at some time in the last 12 months. Of all households:

  • 4.7% experienced marginal food insecurity
  • 8.5% experienced moderate or severe food insecurity.

Characteristics of households that experienced food insecurity

Some populations are more vulnerable to food insecurity, including low-income earners, people living in remote areas, culturally and linguistically diverse groups, single-parent households, older people and people experiencing homelessness[2]. For this analysis, population characteristics have been used where available at the household level.

Socio-economic disadvantage

Households in areas of most disadvantage were more likely to experience food insecurity than those in areas of least disadvantage (20.6% compared to 6.8%). The severity of food insecurity also varied by area. Households in areas of most disadvantage were more likely to experience moderate or severe food insecurity than marginal food insecurity (14.6% compared to 5.8%). Households in areas of least disadvantage experienced similar levels of moderate or severe food insecurity and marginal food insecurity (4.2% and 2.8%).

  1. A lower Index of Disadvantage quintile (e.g. the first quintile) indicates relatively greater disadvantage and a lack of advantage in general. A higher Index of Disadvantage (e.g. the fifth quintile) indicates a relative lack of disadvantage and greater advantage in general. See Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Australia, 2021 (abs.gov.au).

Household income

Almost one in four (23.2%) of the lowest income households experienced food insecurity in 2023, more than six times higher than that of the highest income households (3.6%).

  1. Total current weekly household equivalised income quintiles. The proportion of households in each quintile may not be 20%. Excludes equivalised household income not known/not stated.

Household composition

Households can be broadly categorised into family households and non-family households. Family households can be further categorised by the presence of dependent children, while non-family households can consist of either a lone person or a group.

In 2023, group households were most likely to experience food insecurity (27.8%). Among family households, those with dependent children were more likely to experience food insecurity than those with no dependent children present (16.0% compared to 8.4%).

  1. Non-family household with two or more unrelated persons.

Food insecurity for family households can be further examined by the severity of food insecurity and the presence or a lone or parent couple. Lone parent family households:

  • were more likely to experience food insecurity than two parent households (34.0% compared to 11.3%)
  • experienced higher levels of moderate or severe food insecurity compared to marginal food insecurity (25.9% compared to 9.4%).

Among non-family households, group households and lone person households both experienced higher levels of moderate or severe food insecurity than marginal food insecurity:

  • group households (24.7% compared to 4.4%)
  • lone person households (11.4% compared to 4.5%).
  1. Non-family household with two or more unrelated persons.

Footnotes

  1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ‘Social determinants of health’, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/social-determinants-of-health; accessed 27/07/2025.
  2. Australian Institute of Family Studies, ‘Understanding food insecurity in Australia’, https://aifs.gov.au/resources/policy-and-practice-papers/understanding-food-insecurity-australia; accessed 27/07/2025.
  3. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, ‘Food insecurity in Australia: Implications for general practitioners’, https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2015/november/food-insecurity-in-australia-implications-for-gene; accessed 27/07/2025.

Data downloads

See National Nutrition and Physical Activity 2023 data downloads for the full suite of available data. Data relating to food insecurity can be found in tables:

  • TABLE 13 Household food security status, by selected characteristics.

Media release

See National Nutrition and Physical Activity 2023 media release for more information.

Methodology

Scope

Includes:

  • usual residents in Australia aged 2+ years living in private dwellings
  • urban and rural areas in all states and territories, excluding very remote parts of Australia and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.

Geography

The data available includes estimates for Australia.

Source

The National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Collection method

  • Face-to-face interview with an ABS Interviewer
  • 24-hour dietary recall data collected face-to-face with an ABS Interviewer or via an online interview
  • Some physical activity and sleep data was collected on a voluntary basis via an accelerometer.

Concepts, sources and methods

History of changes

Full history of changes

View full methodology