The Netherlands is ranked fifth in the recently published Economist Intelligence Unit's 2013 Global Food Security Index (GFSI).

Wealthy nations again occupy the top spots in this year’s index: the United States retains the top ranking, while Norway overtaking Denmark for second place. France remains in third place, while Austria is fourth, followed by the Netherlands tied with Switzerland in fifth place.

While relatively high incomes and low spending on food relative to other outlays have kept these countries at the top of the index, income losses in some of their south and east European neighbours have hurt food security in some developed economies.

Developing countries made the greatest food security gains in the past year. Ethiopia, Botswana and the Dominican Republic led the way, based largely on greater food availability and income growth.

Globally, food security over the past year has remained relatively unchanged and more than 870 million people globally are without a secure source of food.

The largest number of malnourished people lives in Asia and the Pacific, while the population of Sub-Saharan Africa remains the largest concentrated block of hungry people globally.

Of the top 10 countries whose GFSI scores have improved the most since 2012, seven are middle- or low-income countries. Also, food prices are slightly lower than they were a year ago and low-income countries have slightly more food per person than they did last year.

In a year in which the world continued to recover from a global economic downturn and a series of droughts occurred in several of the largest crop-exporting countries, these small gains are welcome.

About GFSI

The Economist Intelligence Unit created the GFSI in 2012 to improve the discussion on food insecurity and measure the risks in a consistent, rigorous framework.

GFSI assesses food security across three internationally designated dimensions: affordability, availability and utilisation, with the last modified to assess food quality and safety, across a set of 107 developed and developing countries worldwide.

For more information, read the report here.

Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit