Australia cost of living: A third of households struggling to feed themselves
One in three households are going hungry as the cost-of-living crisis bites, new research by one of the nation’s most important charities has found, and many people are reducing meal portions to make ends meet.
The research by Foodbank, to be released on Monday, shows 3.6 million households are suffering “food insecurity”. Renters, the disabled, young people and people on low incomes are among the most affected.
The situation has become so dire that many Australians are being forced to cut their use of shampoo, toothpaste and soap.
Inflation data to be released this week is expected to confirm ongoing price pressures for household essentials, prompting a further interest rate hike from the Reserve Bank when it meets at the start of next month.
The biggest increase in prices over the past year has been in petrol – up by almost 14 per cent. But there have been steep lifts in other essentials including beef (9.4 per cent), lamb (10.1 per cent) and milk (8 per cent).
Foodbank surveyed almost 6000 Australians, testing their access to food against the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s definition of insecurity, which is when a person does not have regular access to sufficient nourishing food to provide for proper development and a healthy life.
It found 33 per cent of households experienced food security over the past 12 months – a slight increase on the 32.8 per cent found in 2025 but still well short of the 35.9 per cent discovered in 2023.
But there were wide differences depending on income, family structure and location.
Food insecurity was most common among young households, which covers people aged between 18 and 34, at 48 per cent. It was lowest among households with people over the age of 55 at 19 per cent.
Forty-five per cent of households with children suffered food insecurity compared to 28 per cent among households without children.
The highest insecurity rate was among Indigenous households at 57 per cent. Households in regional areas (36 per cent) had a higher insecurity rate than people living in metropolitan areas (32 per cent).
Foodbank Australia chief executive, former independent MP Kylea Tink, said it appeared food insecurity had become entrenched across the country and that it was affecting more middle income households.
“We call ourselves the lucky country, but for one in three households, Australia is now the hungry country,” she said.
“Sadly, hunger has become part of the Australian story.”
Among middle income households with incomes between $33,800 and $90,999, 37 per cent reported food insecurity.
“A wage used to be what kept food on the table, but for a growing number of working Australians, their pay packet no longer stretches that far,” Tink said.
Foodbank found that the most common way food-insecure households dealt with cost-of-living pressures was to drive less or use less expensive forms of transport. While 41 per cent of households with secure food access had cut driving, 70 per cent of those in food security had done so.
This week’s inflation figures pre-dates the recent surge in global oil prices, which have pushed Brent crude beyond $US110 a barrel – its highest level since the earliest stages of the war against Iran. Since the end of August, unleaded prices at the pump have climbed by almost 40¢ a litre to beyond $2.40.
Two-thirds of food-insecure households reported they had cut spending on personal care and grooming services such as haircuts and similar numbers looked for sales or discounts to buy grocery items and cut their use of heating or cooling.
Food portions or ingredients in meals were reduced in half of food-insecure households while 21 per cent of secure households had done so. In another bid to make ends meet, 47 per cent of insecure households revealed they had reduced spending on cleaning or personal care goods such as soap, shampoo and toothpaste.
Just 4 per cent of those facing food insecurity said they had not changed their spending habits, compared to a more than a fifth of those in food security.
Last week, Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser said that while interest rate increases were hitting people with a mortgage, they were in much better financial health than people on low incomes, including renters who were being hurt by high inflation.
The Foodbank survey confirmed the hit to renters, of whom 51 per cent said they were in food insecurity.
The charity wants the federal government to establish a national minimum standard for school breakfast programs.
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Shane Wright is a senior economics correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
