Food consumption diversity in Romania

Abstract

The relation between the quantities of food consumed from different products and the socio-economic characteristics of households is investigated in many empirical studies. At the same time, there are few concerns with regard to other aspects related to the consumption behaviour, such as the number of individual food items consumed over a certain period, in other words, dietary variety or diversity. Identification of economic and socio-demographic factors influencing food consumption diversity on the Romanian households is the aim of this paper. Among the investigated factors, we had in view the incomes in the first place, then the household residence area, the educational level as well as other demographic factors. Count measure and Berry index are used to measure food diversity. The data used are those from the Household Budget Survey for the year 2011, 1 st quarter. As conclusions, the study reveals a positive correlation between diversity and household incomes. At the same time, food diversity is higher in the case of urban households compared to the rural households. Among the significant demographic factors, it can be mentioned the household head’s educational level and the household members’ age. Â