FAO · Per Capita Food Supply Variability
Food supply variability by country
How much does the food supply swing from year to year?
Of the 155 countries compared in 2024, Lithuania had the lowest reading, 4, and Venezuela had the highest reading, 227. In the middle country the figure was 29. Among the 144 countries measured in every edition since 2001, the middle one moved from 42 to 30.
Share
Food supply variability · 2024
Context statistic
Lowest of 155Lithuania
4012024 · values only
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 155 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: (Jan Mehlich) · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
2Photo: Wolfgang Steinkläubl · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
3Photo: grin derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
02Every measured country
Food supply variability on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 48–227
- 33–47
- 25–32
- 18–24
- 4–17
- No reading in 2024 (3 measured in an earlier edition)
- Americas
25
the middle country, of 28 measured · 48 members
Guyana12
Venezuela227Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Europe
29
the middle country, of 38 measured · 49 members
Lithuania4
Albania111Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Oceania
30
the middle country, of 8 measured · 21 members
Vanuatu7
Solomon Islands62Lowest and highest reading in Oceania.
- Africa
31
the middle country, of 47 measured · 55 members
Somalia7
Uganda118Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Asia
34
the middle country, of 34 measured · 52 members
2 share 13
Sri Lanka185Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Every region
22 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Eastern Europe
22
the middle country, of 9 measured · 10 members
Hungary7
Romania46Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Central America
23
the middle country, of 7 measured · 8 members
Honduras17
El Salvador35Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- South America
25
the middle country, of 12 measured · 12 members
Guyana12Venezuela227Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Northern Europe
27
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Lithuania4
Ireland57Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Africa
27
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Benin11
Guinea-Bissau114Lowest and highest reading in Western Africa.
- Western Europe
29
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Belgium14
Germany35Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Caribbean
30
the middle country, of 7 measured · 24 members
Trinidad and Tobago20
Haiti57Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- South-eastern Asia
30
the middle country, of 8 measured · 11 members
Indonesia20
Timor-Leste62Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Europe
30
the middle country, of 12 measured · 17 members
Croatia6Albania111Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- Middle Africa
31
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
2 share 17
São Tomé and Príncipe62Lowest and highest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern Africa
31
the middle country, of 5 measured · 6 members
Algeria18
Tunisia49Lowest and highest reading in Northern Africa.
- Southern Asia
33
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
India14Sri Lanka185Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
- Central Asia
35
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Turkmenistan18
Kyrgyzstan59Lowest and highest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Africa
35
the middle country, of 15 measured · 19 members
Somalia7Uganda118Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Western Asia
38
the middle country, of 10 measured · 19 members
2 share 13
Georgia73Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
New Zealand22
Australia56Lowest and highest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Eastern Asia
4 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: China, Mongolia, South Korea, Taiwan.
Taiwan25
Mongolia52Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Vanuatu7Solomon Islands62Lowest and highest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati.
Kiribati28Lowest and highest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States13
Canada25Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa.
Samoa46Lowest and highest reading in Polynesia.
- Southern Africa
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia, South Africa.
Eswatini26
Botswana48Lowest and highest reading in Southern Africa.
03The whole field at once
The spread
155 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 29; a quarter are above 44, and a quarter below 21. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 158 ever measured
Every country
In order, lowest value first. No rank or position is shown: too many countries share the same value for an order to mean anything. It measures movement, not level: a country whose food supply is low but steady reads as stable, and one recovering from a crisis reads as volatile.
Showing 25 of 158 countries
Values for 2024. The change column compares 2024 with 2023 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052001–2024 · 24 reference years
Over time
Each point is one year from 2001. Each value looks back over the previous five years, so a single bad harvest or crisis stays in the figure for five years.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 144 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 155 | 29 | 21 – 44 | 30 |
| 2023 | 154 | 28 | 19 – 40 | 28 |
| 2022 | 155 | 27 | 18 – 42 | 27 |
| 2021 | 156 | 27 | 17 – 42 | 27 |
| 2020 | 156 | 31 | 21 – 44 | 32 |
| 2019 | 156 | 31 | 22 – 46 | 33 |
| 2018 | 157 | 32 | 25 – 46 | 32 |
| 2017 | 157 | 33 | 24 – 47 | 34 |
| 2016 | 157 | 33 | 21 – 47 | 33 |
| 2015 | 157 | 30 | 21 – 46 | 30 |
| 2014 | 157 | 28 | 20 – 42 | 28 |
| 2013 | 157 | 29 | 20 – 43 | 29 |
| 2012 | 156 | 29 | 20 – 45 | 30 |
| 2011 | 156 | 29 | 17 – 46 | 29 |
| 2010 | 156 | 26 | 14 – 47 | 27 |
| 2009 | 156 | 30 | 16 – 46 | 30 |
| 2008 | 156 | 30 | 18 – 44 | 31 |
| 2007 | 156 | 29 | 20 – 42 | 30 |
| 2006 | 156 | 31 | 22 – 44 | 32 |
| 2005 | 156 | 33 | 22 – 48 | 33 |
| 2004 | 146 | 39 | 26 – 60 | 39 |
| 2003 | 146 | 38 | 27 – 61 | 38 |
| 2002 | 146 | 40 | 27 – 58 | 40 |
| 2001 | 146 | 42 | 28 – 62 | 42 |
062023 → 2024
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → after- Guyana47 → 12−35
- Algeria42 → 18−24
- Guinea-Bissau138 → 114−24
Italy38 → 14−24
Serbia42 → 21−21
Worsened most
before → after- Samoa12 → 46+34
- Romania18 → 46+28
- Georgia47 → 73+26
Uzbekistan24 → 49+25- São Tomé and Príncipe39 → 62+23
154 countries were measured in both 2023 and 2024. The field changed from 154 to 155 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Food supply variability in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
289
Year-to-year variability of the food supply (kcal per person per day)
Lowest reading on record
Reached 4 times by 3 countries — shared, so no holder is named
1
Year-to-year variability of the food supply (kcal per person per day)
Biggest improvement between editions
−123
168 → 45
Biggest decline between editions
+177
16 → 193
Most improved since first measured
−104
166 → 62
At the top most often
3 of 24
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08The measure
About food supply variability
This measures how much a country's food supply swings from year to year, in calories per person per day. FAO uses it to describe the stability of food security: a supply that rises and falls sharply is a less reliable one, even when its average is adequate.
What the number is: Year-to-year variability of the food supply (kcal per person per day).
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Risk & Resilience and Food & Agriculture, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Risk & ResilienceFood & AgricultureWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where food supply variability is higher, these tend to be higher too.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Moves against
Where food supply variability is higher, these tend to be lower.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 365 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
11Questions
Food supply variability: questions and answers
Which country has the lowest food supply variability?
Lithuania, at 4, among the 155 countries compared in 2024.
Which country has the highest food supply variability?
Venezuela, at 227, among the 155 countries compared in 2024.
How many countries does the Per Capita Food Supply Variability cover?
155 in 2024, and 158 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 146 to 157 between editions.
What is the world average food supply variability?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 155 compared in 2024, the figure was 29.
Is this Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s own ranking?
No ranking is shown. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything, so none is derived.
How often is the Per Capita Food Supply Variability published?
This site holds 24 reference years, 2001–2024, all recalculated in Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s 2026 report on one method — not 24 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under CC BY 4.0. FAOSTAT's Suite of Food Security Indicators, read from FAO's own bulk download. FAO computes it from its own food balance sheets. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Per Capita Food Supply Variability — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
FAOSTAT's Suite of Food Security Indicators, read from FAO's own bulk download. FAO computes it from its own food balance sheets.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year 2024
Cite the source as: FAO. 2026. FAOSTAT: Suite of Food Security Indicators. Accessed on 3 October 2026. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS Licence: CC-BY-4.0.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-10-03.
How this page reads the numbers
- No rank or position is shown: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Lithuania — (Jan Mehlich), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Croatia — Wolfgang Steinkläubl, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Hungary — grin derivative work: Jjtkk, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Food supply variability by country: Per Capita Food Supply Variability, data from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/food-supply-variability