The situation of the right to food in Venezuela remains marked by severe structural deficiencies, mass poverty, persistent food inflation and a limited state capacity to guarantee adequate food to food.
This is concluded by the chapter on the right to feed the Report of Human Rights in Venezuela 2024 of the Venezuelan Education-Human Rights Program (PROPER). The document includes data corresponding to the year 2024 or the last published in 2023 collected in studies and documents published by the Academy, union organizations, civil society, international organizations and United Nations agencies.
The report includes conclusions in several categories that we list in key forms and that show that Venezuela continues to face a serious food and nutritional crisis that compromises fundamental rights, especially among the most vulnerable groups.
● Insufficient poverty and salary
According to the data collected by supply, 86.9% of the population lives in poverty and 70.6% in extreme poverty and the monthly average family income remained at $ 169.6.
A worrying fact is that the minimum wage covers only 0.5-0.6% of the value of the family food basket (CAF), which averaged $ 536.10 in 2024. In addition, Venezuela continues among the countries in the world with the highest inflation in the price of food.
This makes 43 of the population in front of food insecurity without stable access to sufficient quality foods and that 46% consume poor quality or poor condition.
● 8 out of 10 Venezuelans without access to food
According to report data, 82.3% of the population does not have sufficient access to food and 43.3% are in food insecurity (32.8% moderate and 10.5% severe).
70.2% of Venezuelans allocates more than half of their income to food. In this context, organizations such as Humvenezuela report that 61.7% of households have reduced the number of daily foods and 50.5% exhausted livelihoods to feed.
● Nutritional indicators are not encouraging
Although child malnutrition shows a slight improvement (6.8%) remains at alarm levels.
10.5% of children have low size for their age and 9.3% are born with low weight. The nutritional situation of pregnant women also reflects this crisis, since 24.2% of them presents anemia.
Provides warns that a deficit in size “leads the child to an unproductive life, due to the deterioration of their cognitive conditions, which affect their school performance at the early stage of their life and their work productivity in adulthood, which, in turn, directly affects the productivity of a country.”
Regarding the anemia rate in women in Venezuela is higher than South America in seven percentage points, which indicates “a challenge in food safety and health.”
The NGO points out that the causes of this condition could be attenuated “with food policies that guarantee access to nutritious foods and adequate hygienic and sanitation conditions.”
● Chronic hunger
The subalimentation prevalence index (IPS) in Venezuela rose from 7.8% (2004-2006) to 17.6% (2021-2023), the highest in South America, which means that there are five million people in the country with chronic hunger.
● Consumption and survival strategies
82.3%of households report “insufficient or very scarce” and among the survival strategies they adopt to deal with the situation are to buy cheaper food (67.9%), reduce portions (32.8%), go hungry (10.5%) and sacrifice food from one member for others (more than 60%).
The report states that the CLAP remains important food source: 54.5% of households are supplied by this route.
● Public service crisis and impact on food
Food does not depend solely on food availability, but also on the environment that allows its production, preparation, conservation and hygiene. In Venezuela, the progressive collapse of public services – water, electricity, transport, sanitation, domestic gas – directly affecting the right to food and adequate nutrition.
Based on figures such as Humvenezuela, the report determined that 51% of households must buy bottles, 18.6% stick to public shots and 15.1% pay tank trucks to seek water supply.
Households also suffer the poor quality of water they receive by pipe: with bad smell and unpleasant taste, which makes it difficult for safe food and personal hygiene, increasing the risk of diseases transmitted by contaminated foods, especially in children.
With regard to electric service, 60% of households suffer from electrical failures in a moderate or constant way, intermittences that compromise the cold chain and affect the conservation of meats, dairy and prepared foods.
It also impacts the use and functionality of essential appliances such as refrigerators, electric kitchens or blenders.
The report also mentions that gas supply failures force many homes to cook with firewood or improvise electric kitchens (when there is light), which compromises the health and nutrition of meals.
Sanitation and hygiene is another weak link in nutrition: although 83.7% of households have sanitary facilities with poce connected to sewers, many lack essential hygiene inputs such as cleaning products, washing products, wash, containers to transport water or soap to wash cooking items. This deficit compromises food safety and favors gastrointestinal diseases, aggravating malnutrition in vulnerable populations.
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