Guatemala: A food insecurity constant reality

From 2020 to 2022, 21.1% of Guatemala’s population was affected by severe food insecurity, with a gender food gap of 0.3 million. According to a study conducted by CARE in Guatemala in 2022 in Guatemala’s dry corridor, 42% of households had exhausted all grain from the previous harvest; 33% had grain reserves lasting only three more months or less; 21% of households incurred debt to purchase food; 38% of households reduced their meal sizes; 22% of respondents ate less or abstained entirely, prioritizing their children's meals; 31% skipped at least one meal daily. IPC predicted that food security is expected to deteriorate from June to August 2023, due to the rise in food prices. In total, it is estimated that approximately 604 thousand people (3% of the population) are in Emergency (Phase 4) and close to 3.6 million (21% of the population) in Crisis (Phase 3).