Socio-Demographic Determinants of Food Insecurity among Vulnerable Households in

Poverty is one of the major factors that may contribute to inability of the household or certain members within the households, for obtaining adequate food to fulfill their basic nutritional requirement. This phenomenon known as food insecurity has quantitative, qualitative, psychological, and social dimensions. Food insecurity is affected by factors that influence economic resources of the household. Trying to understand food insecurity among vulnerable in urban society of Iran, this study investigates the relation of demographic and social factors with severity of food insecurity among a sample of 300 households, under coverage of Relief Committee of Emam Khomeini in district 20 in the city of Tehran. According to findings, 98.6 percent of the samples had experienced different levels of food insecurity. While 37.3 percent experienced severe food insecurity, the insecurity at household and adult levels was more prevalent in comparison with child level. Therefore based on Radimer et.al, food insecurity is a managed process. When a household faces food insecurity, mother (and other adults) reduce their quality and quantity of food to prevent children's food insecurity. Deteriorating quality and quantity of children's intakes doesnt occur until more sever stages. In this research, gender of household head, sickness of one of the household members, family size, education level and occupation of household head were identified as the most important contributors to severity of food insecurity among urban households.