Constructing a composite index to evaluate multidimensional variations in food security over different regions.

Abstract

Understanding food security level on a large scale is crucial for grasping global food security and issuing timely warnings about regional food systems risks. Current regional spatiotemporal distribution and multidimensional comparisons of global food security are insufficient. Therefore, this paper proposed a weighting technique combing the subjective AHP method with the objective CRITIC method, and developed a new composite index to measure food security multidimensionally. Using the food security composite index (FSCI), this study explored the spatiotemporal evolution of food security in different dimensions at both global and regional levels, based on panel data from 2001 to 2020. The variation of FSCI remained stable in the quantity dimension across all regions, with significant improvements in economic security observed in Europe and Latin America and Caribbean, and Asia showed an upward trend in resource dimension. Compared to the global average, Europe had a pronounced advantage, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa had a significant disadvantage.