Hunger in the UK – it’s on the rise

Food on table

There’s no escaping the fact that food insecurity in the UK is on the rise. As reported in an earlier news post, in the first six months of this year alone, EFA distributed 70,000 kgs of food to the food banks and community groups we support. By the end of July, we had already exceeded last year’s total i.e. just seven months into the year.

We’re not alone in seeing such a steep rise in demand. Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, food banks in the Trussell Trust’s UK wide network distributed close to three million emergency food parcels to people facing hardship, an increase of 37% from the same period last year. More than one million of these parcels were distributed for children.

  • One in seven people (14%) across the UK say that they or their household have experienced food insecurity over a twelve-month period, equating to an estimated 11.3 million people.
  • Rates of food insecurity rise to almost one in three (30%) in the most deprived geographical areas of the UK.
  • One in fourteen people (7%) report that they or their household have used at least one type of food aid in the last year, equating to an estimated 5.7 million people being supported by food aid.
  • More than two thirds of people (71%) experiencing food insecurity have not used any form of food aid in the last year.
  • Food banks in the Trussell Trust network distributed almost three million parcels in the year to April 2023, the most parcels ever distributed in a single year, and a 37% increase on 2021/22.

Figures courtesy of the Trussell Trust.

View/download the Trussell Trust report: ‘Hunger in the UK‘ (pdf).

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