Hungry in Australia

One in five Australians went hungry once over the past year, according to a new survey that also finds demand for food bank services has increased by more than 20% across Australia in 12 months.

The annual Foodbank Hunger report found in the past year 21% of Australians ran out of food and were unable to buy more, up from 18% in the 2018 survey.

“That is the equivalent of five million people,” the report reads. “At least once a week, around half of the people skip a meal (55%) or cut down on the size of their meals to make their food go further. At least once a week, three in 10 (30%) food insecure Australians go a whole day without eating.” 



People were most likely to be without food or the means to pay for it due to an unexpected bill or expense (49%), the report says, followed by a low income or pension (42%) and housing costs (34%).

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/10/one-in-five-australians-went-hungry-over-past-year-study-finds