One in three households is going hungry as the cost-of-living crisis bites and many people are reducing meal portions to make ends meet, new research has found. Source: The Age.
The research by Foodbank, to be released today, shows 3.6 million households are suffering “food insecurity”. Renters, the disabled, young people and people on low incomes are among the most affected.
The situation has become so dire that many Australians are being forced to cut their use of shampoo, toothpaste and soap.
Inflation data to be released this week is expected to confirm ongoing price pressures for household essentials, prompting a further interest rate hike from the Reserve Bank when it meets at the start of next month.
The biggest increase in prices over the past year has been in petrol – up by almost 14 per cent. But there have been steep lifts in other essentials including beef (9.4 per cent), lamb (10.1 per cent) and milk (8 per cent).
Foodbank surveyed almost 6000 Australians, testing their access to food against the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s definition of insecurity, which is when a person does not have regular access to sufficient nourishing food to provide for proper development and a healthy life.
It found 33 per cent of households experienced food security over the past 12 months – a slight increase on the 32.8 per cent found in 2025 but still well short of the 35.9 per cent discovered in 2023.
But there were wide differences depending on income, family structure and location.
Food insecurity was most common among young households, which covers people aged between 18 and 34, at 48 per cent. It was lowest among households with people over the age of 55 at 19 per cent.
Forty-five per cent of households with children suffered food insecurity compared to 28 per cent among households without children.
The highest insecurity rate was among Indigenous households at 57 per cent. Households in regional areas (36 per cent) had a higher insecurity rate than people living in metropolitan areas (32 per cent).
Foodbank Australia chief executive, former independent MP Kylea Tink, said it appeared food insecurity had become entrenched across the country and that it was affecting more middle income households.
FULL STORY
A third of households struggling to feed themselves (By Shane Wright, The Age)
