Researchers at, among others, the University of Göttingen in Germany have investigated how well each country can provide its population with nutritious food without having to buy food from other countries.
The study, published in the journal Nature Food, has looked at seven different food groups: fruit, vegetables, dairy products, fish, meat, plant-based protein, and starchy staple foods.
Only Guyana
Of the 186 countries included in the study, it is according to the researchers' models only Guyana in South America that can do this. China and Vietnam can manage on their own within six of the seven food groups.
All European countries, including Sweden, can produce enough dairy products to meet national dietary recommendations. Meat production is also at high levels in most of Europe. But we in the Nordic countries cannot today provide ourselves with sufficient fruit and vegetables, according to the researchers' review.
Too little plant-based
Globally, 65 percent of countries produce more meat and dairy products than their population actually needs, according to prevailing nutritional recommendations.
There is a global shortage of nutrient-rich plant-based foods. Less than half of the countries in the study produce enough plant-based protein – such as beans, lentils, peas, nuts, and seeds.
The researchers also write that Europe's future food security is not just about securing supply – but also about changing consumption patterns. The overproduction of animal products, combined with low self-sufficiency in plant-based foods, points to the need to adapt both for climate reasons and to increase our resilience in times of crisis.
The discussion about countries becoming more self-sufficient in food has gained momentum in recent years, not least after the pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine. The researchers wanted to investigate how many countries would be able to do this today.
For their calculations, they used data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on how much food is produced, imported, exported, and used within the country, and the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) "Livewell" diet, which describes sustainable food production.
The study is published in the journal Nature Food.
