The Color of Hunger: Food Insecurity and Racial Inequality in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil’s 2009 National Household Survey provides information on a representative sample of 121,708 households and includes items that enable us to identify households that experience “moderate” and “severe” degrees of food insecurity. Using the two measures of food insecurity as dependent variables in logistic regression analyses, the results show that Brazil’s indigenous population suffers the highest and the Asian-descent population enjoys the lowest level of food insecurity. The findings further support the hypothesis that, other things being equal, Afro-Brazilians experience higher rates of food insecurity compared to whites. Net of statistical controls for region, urban residence, age, monthly per capita household income and gender of the head of household, the odds of moderate and severe food insecurity are, respectively, 31 percent and 45 percent higher among brown compared to white households. Among black households, the odds of moderate and severe food insecurity are 50 percent and 73 percent higher, respectively, compared to households headed by a person who declares themselves white. Estimates of the color differences in food insecurity in 2009 represent a novel contribution to the study of racial inequality and discrimination. The findings provide a benchmark against which future studies can assess the effectiveness of the food-related components of Brazil’s new social policy agenda.