Foodbank Hunger Report 2021

This year, we released the Foodbank Hunger Report 2021, which revealed that 1 in 6 adults in Australia haven’t had enough to eat in the last year, and even more shockingly, 1.2 million children have gone hungry.

The report this year uncovers the compounding reality of food insecurity in the time of COVID-19. More than 70% of people going hungry go a whole day without eating at least once a week.  43% of children who live in severe food insecurity go a whole day without eating once a week. Hunger is affecting people across all demographics right now, many are young working families, retirees, and indigenous people living in regional Australia.

The report, now in its 10th year, highlights that the pandemic continues to deliver challenges that are exacerbating pre-existing issues in our community. In addition to those who were already struggling before COVID-19, the pandemic has caused others to experience vulnerability for the first time. In fact, more than one in three of last year’s food insecure people in NSW (39%) had never been in that position before.

The report highlights that food insecurity is not restricted to the ‘obvious’ vulnerability groups in the community such as homeless people and the unemployed. It shows people of every age, living alone, in families and in groups are susceptible. Food insecurity is shown to affect people in cities right through to those in remote areas and surprisingly, it affects more people in some form of employment (64%) than those who have none.

The Foodbank Hunger Report provides a snapshot of the prevalence and depth of the issues of food insecurity as well as insights into the day-to-day experience of people in our community who are doing it tough.