title: Measuring Poverty for Food Security Analysis: Consumption- Versus Asset-Based Approaches.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Poverty and food insecurity are intrinsically linked as poor households often lack the resources required to access sufficient nutritious food to live an active and healthy life. Consumption and expenditure surveys are typically used to identify poor versus nonpoor households but are detailed and costly. Measures of wealth based on asset ownership and housing characteristics can be generated from lighter, less costly surveys.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether indices based on asset ownership and housing characteristics (stock) complement household consumption (flow) when used to analyze inequalities in food security outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Comprehensive data from Nepal, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Madagascar are used to examine correlations and overlaps in classification between indices of household wealth and consumption per capita. Inequality in food security indicators representing quantity, quality, and vulnerability is examined across wealth and consumption per capita quintiles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Wealth indices are correlated with consumption per capita, with coefficients between 0.5 and 0.6. The prevalence of food insecurity decreases from poorer to wealthier quintiles for all variables and for all food security measures in all countries. Energy deficiency varies much more across consumption quintiles than wealth index quintiles. Interestingly, inequalities in the share of consumption of food are more pronounced across the wealth index quintiles than per capita consumption.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although wealth indices and consumption per capita are related and both are drivers of food security, they cannot be used interchangeably for food security analysis. Each inequality measure is important for describing different aspects of food security.
authors.affiliation: 1 United Nations World Food Programme Headquarters, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hjelm
authors.affiliation: 1 United Nations World Food Programme Headquarters, Rome, Italy.|2 Statistics Norway, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathiassen
authors.affiliation: 1 United Nations World Food Programme Headquarters, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wadhwa
keywords: LSMS surveys; consumption expenditure; food security; light indicators; wealth indicators