El Salvador's prevalence of severe food insecurity in the population (%) was 12.3% in 2024, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 2.8 percentage points from 15.1% in 2019.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 12.3% | 2024 |
| Five years earlier | 15.1% | 2019 |
| Highest | 16.2% | 2021 |
| Lowest | 12.3% | 2024 |
| Average since 2015 | 14.56% | 2015–2024 |
| First recorded | 13.8% | 2015 |
Over five years it is down 2.8 percentage points from 15.1% in 2019. Since 2015 it is down 1.5 percentage points from 13.8% in 2015.
What the numbers say
In 2024, El Salvador's prevalence of severe food insecurity in the population (%) fell 3.1 percentage points on 2023 (from 15.4% to 12.3%).
Across the 8 yearly changes before that (2016 to 2023), the average change was +0.2 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.67 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 4.9 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 1.5 percentage points in 2021 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.1 percentage points in 2024. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2015 to 2024 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 4% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2024, El Salvador had the 22nd highest value of the 93 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| El Salvador | 12.3% | 2024 |
| World | 10.14% | 2024 |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 7.81% | 2024 |
| Upper middle income | 2.76% | 2024 |
Closest to El Salvador in the 2024 ranking
- Benin — 19th of 93: 13.1%
- Uganda — 20th of 93: 12.7%
- Mauritania — 21st of 93: 12.5%
- Nepal — 23rd of 93: 12.3%
- Mauritius — 24th of 93: 12.2%
- Egypt, Arab Rep. — 25th of 93: 11.7%
What this measures
The percentage of people in the population who live in households classified as severely food insecure. A household is classified as severely food insecure when at least one adult in the household has reported to have been exposed, at times during the year, to several of the most severe experiences described in the FIES questions, such as to have been forced to reduce the quantity of the food, to have skipped meals, having gone hungry, or having to go for a whole day without eating because of a lack of money or other resources.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a population-weighted average.
All 10 values
| Year | Prevalence of severe food insecurity in the population (%) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 12.3 |
| 2023 | 15.4 |
| 2022 | 15.8 |
| 2021 | 16.2 |
| 2020 | 14.7 |
| 2019 | 15.1 |
| 2018 | 14.6 |
| 2017 | 14 |
| 2016 | 13.7 |
| 2015 | 13.8 |
Prevalence of severe food insecurity in the population (%) in nearby economies
- Argentina — 11% (2024)
- Brazil — 0.6% (2024)
- Chile — 3.3% (2024)
- Colombia — 5.2% (2024)
- Costa Rica — 2.3% (2024)
- Dominican Republic — 16.4% (2024)
- Ecuador — 11% (2024)
- Guatemala — 22.4% (2024)
- Honduras — 14.3% (2024)
More health data for El Salvador
- Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 7.13% (2025)
- Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 8.25% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, female — 755,631 (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 22.61% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, male — 796,552 (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 26.34% (2025)
- Population ages 0-14, total — 1.55 million (2025)
- Population ages 0-14 (% of total population) — 24.38% (2025)
- Population ages 05-09, female (% of female population) — 7.42% (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is El Salvador's prevalence of severe food insecurity in the population (%)?
- 12.3% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 2015?
- It is down 1.5 percentage points from 13.8% in 2015. The highest value was 16.2% in 2021 and the lowest 12.3% in 2024.
- How does El Salvador rank?
- 22nd highest of 93 economies with data for 2024.
- Is the latest change in prevalence of severe food insecurity in the population (%) unusual for El Salvador?
- In 2024, El Salvador's prevalence of severe food insecurity in the population (%) fell 3.1 percentage points on 2023 (from 15.4% to 12.3%). Across the 8 yearly changes before that (2016 to 2023), the average change was +0.2 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.67 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 4.9 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SN.ITK.SVFI.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
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