Realities of Food Insecurity for Young People: Insights from the 2021 Australian Youth Barometer

Report authors: Catherine Waite, Beatriz Gallo Cordoba, Lucas Walsh, Masha Mikola, Blake Cutler

One in five young Australians reported experiencing food insecurity during their lives. This paper presents a ‘deep dive’ into these findings by drawing on data from the Australian Youth Barometer.

The 2021 Australian Youth Barometer provides an overview of a range of factors that affect young people in Australia today. In this new series of papers, we offer a more detailed exploration - a ‘deep dive’ - into particular issues and cross-cutting themes that have emerged from the research.

This paper represents an entry point into a critical investigation of young people and food insecurity, and seeks to locate this issue front and centre in the discussion about young people and their post-COVID recovery.

It is incumbent on researchers to provide a richer, more nuanced understanding of young people’s experiences so that targeted, evidence-based programs and services can be designed to support young people to reduce food insecurity.

Listen to Cathy Waite discussing the report and its findings