Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

The 2019 WFP Food Security Assessment also showed that 74 percent of households were implementing food-related coping strategies, reducing the variety and quality of the food they ate, while 60 percent also reported having to reduce the size of their meals. To survive, 33 percent of households agreed to work in exchange for food as payment and 20 percent sold household assets to cover basic needs. Six out of ten families spent their savings to buy food. As families exhaust the coping mechanisms used to sustain consumption of staple foods, there is great concern that nutritional needs will not be met. 

The pandemic has forced many companies to close or reduce their activities, and has also reduced remittances from workers living abroad. In addition, household incomes have been affected, due to the high cost of living generated by the accumulated inflation, which by December 2021 closed at 686.4 percent. Although in the first months of 2022, this period of hyperinflation has come under control,  the interannual figure remains at 340 percent. People continue to have no access to foreign currency or other sources of income beyond the minimum wage and  are struggling to get by.

Economic hardship has led to large-scale population movements. In February 2022, there were more than 6 million migrants and refugees from Venezuela worldwide, of whom almost 5 million (80 percent) were in neighbouring countries, especially Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

In April 2021, the Government and WFP signed a memorandum of understanding, allowing WFP to establish a presence in the country and provide humanitarian support. WFP's operations in the country focus on school meals as an entry point to reach food insecure communities throughout the most vulnerable areas of the country.