Acutely Food Insecure Population Estimates

Overview

Acutely Food Insecure Population Estimate (FIPE) data includes annual, Food Security Outlook (FS0), and Food Assistance Outlook Brief (FAOB) Population in Need (PIN) estimates. For additional details about FEWS NET’s reporting on PIN estimates, see the FEWS NET PIN Explainer.

Annual peak needs

Annual peak needs data identifies the highest number of people in a country requiring urgent food assistance during the year, or any 12-month projection period. At least twice a year, FEWS NET analyzes annual peak humanitarian food assistance needs in each of its regularly monitored countries.

Annual Peak Needs Source Documents

This data is uploaded under the following source documents in FDW:

• Annual Peak Food Assistance Needs

• Annual Peak Food Assistance Needs (FEWS NET/USG Only)

Food Security Outlook (FSO) peak needs

Peak needs data for the Food Security Outlooks reflect the anticipated peak (the highest number of people in a country requiring urgent food assistance) during the projection period.

FSO PIN Source Documents

The FSO PIN data is uploaded under Source Documents specific to each country. The naming conventions for these Source Documents are as follows:

• Food Security Outlook Population in Need Estimates, [country]

• Food Security Outlook Population in Need Estimates (USG, FEWS NET only), [country]

• Food Security Outlook Update Population in Need Estimates, [country]

• Food Security Outlook Update Population in Need Estimates (USG, FEWS NET only), [country]

Food Assistance Outlook Brief (FAOB) data

FAOB data may include public and internal population estimates as well as public and internal highest household.

FAOB Source Documents

The associated source documents in FDW for the FAOB Data Collections are as follows:

• FEWS NET: Food Assistance Outlook Brief

• FEWS NET: Food Assistance Outlook Brief, FEWS NET/USG Only

• FEWS NET: Food Assistance Outlook Brief, Highest FIC

• FEWS NET: Food Assistance Outlook Brief, Highest FIC, FEWS NET/USG Only

Preparing PIN data

One template is used to upload the annual, FSO, and FAOB PIN data.

The template includes the following columns:

data_source_organization: Always FEWS NET for our FIPE data.

data_source_document: Report internal data on a separate line and specify the internal Source Document, e.g. Annual Peak Food Assistance Needs (FEWS NET, USG Only). The name must match a Data Source Document in FDW.

collection_date: Date the records were collected/projected, specified in YYYY-MM-DD format. For projected data including FIPE this is the first day of the month. For example, for the February FSO reports the collection_date is 2026-02-01.

start_date: The first day of the projection period, specified in YYYY-MM-DD format.

period_date: The last day of the projection period, specified in YYYY-MM-DD format.

classification_scale: Indicate IPC-compatible or IPC-aligned.

scenario: Input PN (Peak Needs) for Annual Peak Food Assistance Needs and FSO Population in Need Estimates. For FAOB data, include two rows: one for CS (Current Situation) and one for ML (Most Likely).

phase: Input 3+ to indicate Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or worse outcomes.

country: The English name of the country.

fnid: The two-letter ISO alpha code for the country.

key_shocks: List key shocks as a comma-separated list, e.g., Economy, refugee influx, weather.

low_value: The low end of the range of the projected PIN, listed as an integer, e.g., 7,500,000.

high_value: The high end of the range of the projected PIN, listed as an integer, e.g., 9,999,999.

datapoint_description: Should be left blank, and FDW will create the description based on the low and high value and the agreed text template.

pct_population_min: The low end of the range of the projected PIN as an approximate % of the population, entered as an integer.

pct_population_max: The high end of the range of the projected PIN as an approximate % of the population, entered as an integer.

peak_needs_date: The first day of the month of peak need, specified in YYYY-MM-DD format.

comparison_to_one_year_ago: Expected values are Similar, Lower, or Higher.

comparison_to_five_year_average: Expected values are Similar, Lower, or Higher.

phase3_percent: The percent of the PIN projected to be in IPC Phase 3, entered as an integer, i.e. 1-100.

phase4_percent: The percent of the PIN projected to be in IPC Phase 4, entered as an integer, i.e. 1-100.

phase5_percent: The percent of the PIN projected to be in IPC Phase 5, entered as an integer, i.e. 1-100.

highest_fic: Highest projected area-level IPC classification after accounting for planned and
likely deliveries of humanitarian food assistance. Required for FAOB data only.

highest_fic_description: Fill this only if the description is different from the standard one e.g Famine Possible.

Uploading Acutely Food Insecure Population Estimates

Acutely Food Insecure Population Estimates can be uploaded using either the online importer or offline data upload screens.

Online imports

1. From the main toolbar, select Data entry > Import Data Points > Import Acutely Food Insecure Population Estimate Values.

2. Select the file to import and its format.

3. Click Submit.

Offline uploads

1. From the main toolbar, select Data entry > Offline data uploads.

2. Click Add data upload.

   1. File: Choose the file from your computer.

   2. Import format: Select the file format from the list.

   3. Subtype: Select Acutely Food Insecure Population Estimate Value.

3. Click Save.