Controversial calories
In a new academic article, senior researcher Thor Olav Iversen explores how the calorie evolved from being a tool for controlling workers to becoming a global indicator of hunger and development. However, this development has not been neutral. The way hunger is measured has been shaped by political interests and institutional needs.
The origins of the calorie
The calorie was not solely developed to measure hunger but also to optimize labor efficiency. In the late 19th century, well into the industrial revolution, factory owners sought to determine the minimum amount of food a worker needed while remaining productive.
– Originally, the calorie measurement was inspired by combustion engines. The goal was to quantify how much energy humans expended in order to calculate the precise minimum food requirements – and, thus, the lowest possible wages, explains Iversen.
Over time, the calorie became a standardized tool that enabled comparisons of nutrition across countries and regions.
– The League of Nations first began using the calorie as a standard for food requirements, and after the second world war, it became a cornerstone of the UN’s work on food security.
Since 1946, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has published global hunger estimates based on calorie measurements. While this has made hunger and food security visible across borders, it has also simplified a highly complex issue – how people relate to food.
One billion hungry?
Despite the long tradition of measuring hunger through calorie intake, Iversen’s research shows that FAO’s statistics have undergone significant methodological shifts – with equally significant political consequences.
– Until 2010, FAO’s statistics indicated that global undernourishment was increasing. However, at the same time, the World Bank reported that global poverty was decreasing. How could hunger rise while poverty was declining?
– This created a methodological and political conflict, Iversen explains.
Undernourishment and poverty are typically considered to be closely linked. The UN faced particular criticism for reporting that more than one billion people in the world were undernourished. The solution was a revision of FAO’s methodology.
– In 2012, FAO adjusted its model, and the trend completely reversed. Suddenly, the numbers showed that global hunger had actually been declining since the 1990s.
This shift occurred at a crucial moment: The UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were approaching their deadline in 2015, and the statistical reversal gave the impression that the global fight against hunger had been a success.
China’s impact
Another drastic change came in 2019, when FAO gained access to China’s hunger statistics for the first time in 20 years. Until then, FAO’s estimates for China had been based on outdated data from the 1990s.
– China only gave the UN access to new data after the country succeeded in having a Chinese leader of the FAO elected for the first time in 2019, says Iversen.
– This led to the estimated proportion of undernourished people in China dropping from 10% to approximately 0%, he continues.
Given China’s massive population, this also caused a significant decline in the global hunger figures.
This abrupt revision highlights the instability of hunger statistics. The numbers depend not only on how many people are actually hungry but also on which data are used, how they are calculated – and who has the power to decide what counts and when.
From numbers to reality
Today, the UN relies on two main indicators to measure hunger in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU) and Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES).
PoU, which was introduced by the FAO in the 1960s, is a model-based estimate derived from the available calorie supply in a country. FIES, on the other hand, is a newer measure based on household surveys where individuals report their own experiences with food security.
– The PoU indicator is designed for global analysis but provides little insight into local or individual experiences of hunger, explains Iversen.
Moreover, the countries with the lowest food security often have the least survey data available.
– This is concerning seeing as those most in need of assistance and support are often the least represented in the statistics, Iversen continues.
Iversen argues that measuring hunger exclusively through calories reinforces a production-focused view of food – one that prioritizes how much food is produced, rather than how it is distributed or whether people receive the types of food necessary for a healthy life.
The future of hunger statistics
Simultaneously, the SDGs are under pressure. During a recent session of the UN General Assembly, the US representative stated that the SDGs were no longer aligned with American national interests.
Hunger statistics are also tied to conflict. In Gaza, famine has been used as a weapon of war.
– This demonstrates the importance of viewing hunger not just as a statistic, but as a politically created reality, Iversen argues.
Iversen’s research highlights the challenges of using the calorie as a measurement tool, showing that it is shaped by norms, values and political interests.
– Hunger measurement is never neutral. If we truly want to combat hunger, we must ask critical questions about how we count the hungry, Iversen concludes.
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