Food Insecurity Is More Strongly Associated with Poor Subjective Well-Being in More-Developed Countries than in Less-Developed Countries

Abstract

Background: Food insecurity is strongly associated with subjective well-being. People compare their well-being to a subjective reference that adjusts over time, which is called hedonic adaptation.

Objective: We aimed to deepen understanding of the relation between food insecurity and subjective well-being among countries from the perspective of possible hedonic adaptation between food insecurity and subjective well-being.

Methods: Global data from the Gallup World Poll 2014 were collected from 152,206 individuals in 147 countries. Telephone and face-to-face surveys were conducted in 37 and 111 countries, respectively, collecting data on law and order; food and shelter; institutions and infrastructure; job climate; and financial, social, physical, and evaluative well-being, including the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Data were aggregated to country level and merged with economic and social measures from World Bank and United Nations sources: infant mortality, gross domestic product, economic inequality, agricultural value added, fertility, maternal mortality, female schooling, and female participation in the labor force. Multilevel linear regression was used to examine associations between well-being and food insecurity.

Results: Experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity was prevalent among countries, with a mean probability of 0.273 ± 0.220. Countries that were less developed economically and socially had a higher probability of experiencing food insecurity, lower subjective well-being as measured by the daily experience index, and less negative slopes for the relation between daily experience index and food insecurity. Food insecurity was the strongest predictor of daily experience from among the measures of economic and social development.

Conclusions: The prevalence of food insecurity was strongly and negatively associated with subjective well-being across 147 countries. The association between food insecurity and poor subjective well-being within countries was stronger for more-developed countries, providing evidence of hedonic adaptation between food insecurity and subjective well-being. Food insecurity explained substantial variation in subjective well-being both among and within countries.

Keywords: economic development; food insecurity; hedonic well-being; social development; subjective well-being.