The Foodbank Hunger Report 2023 confirmed food insecurity was experienced in 3.7 million households last year, more than all the households in Sydney and Melbourne combined
Foodbank Australia revealed it sourced a record 51 million kilograms of food and groceries in 2023, the equivalent of 92 million meals, as the cost-of-living crisis pushed demand for food relief to record highs across the country.
The Foodbank Hunger Report 2023 confirmed food insecurity was experienced in 3.7 million households last year, more than all the households in Sydney and Melbourne combined. This is an increase of 383,000 households from the same time in 2022 and meant that Foodbanks across the country had to source more food and grocery items than ever before.
The main driver of food insecurity is the cost-of-living crisis, causing more Australians to be anxious about putting food on the table with 77 per cent of food insecure households experiencing it for the first time in the past year.
Foodbank Australia CEO, Brianna Casey explains that food insecurity is now affecting more Australians than ever before.
“It’s touching groups previously unaffected: young professionals and mid to high-income earners are among those being forced to make sacrifices at the dinner table.
“In any other industry, reaching a volume milestone is cause for celebration. At Foodbank, needing to source 92 million meals is a deeply concerning signal of extreme hardship across our communities, and proof positive of the need for the Federal Government to deliver immediate and significant cost-of-living relief, including improved funding for the food relief sector to respond to an ever-growing demand for food relief in communities we’ve never seen it before.”
