Prevalence of undernourishment (3-year average)

The indicator (denominated “prevalence of undernourishment” [PoU]) is an estimate of the percentage of individuals in the population that are in a condition of undernourishment. National estimates are reported as three-year moving averages, to control for the low reliability of the estimates of some of the underlying parameters due to elements for which complete, reliable information is very scarce. This includes, for example, the year-to-year variation in food commodity stocks, one of the components of the annual FAO Food Balance Sheets (FBS). Regional and global aggregates, on the other hand, are reported as annual estimates, as possible estimation errors are expected not to be correlated and therefore expected to be reduced to acceptable levels when aggregating across countries.