he Argentine Social Debt Observatory (ODSA) published two new reports on Food insecurity and mental health, Which, on the one hand, reveals the continuing difficulty faced by a sector of the population in feeding itself from 2018 until now, but it also highlights the relationship between… Depression and anxiety with economic situation, Which appears Very serious numbers despite the relative stability of the overall economy From last year.
UCA reports titled “Social pressure and structural deprivation in urban homes in Argentina.” and “Changes in subjective well-being“, It was made of Surveys of 3,000 families Distributed in different groups in the country.
Among the key findings on food insecurity, ODSA recognized this “This year there were improvements in the index.” As for the strong It deteriorated at the end of 2023 and 2024. This recovery is due to the reconstitution of household income as a result of the decline in income Food inflation And by government transfers through programs such as AUH or Alimentar Card.
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However, ODSA headed by Agustín Salvia warned that “those improvements Not enough to completely reverse the accumulated deteriorationand levels The deficit recorded in 2025 is still very high“The Observatory recorded in this sense that 18.7% of families suffer from food insecurity Among these, 7.8% suffer from acute food insecurity.
Along these lines, ODSA notes that “ Food insecurity A appears Uptrend All over The past decade and a halfwith a more pronounced deterioration in recent years. After relatively stable levels between 2010 and 2017, both severe and moderate insecurity prevailed.It has increased strongly since 2018,access Historic peaks in 2024 This affected 24.3% of homes.”
Income level determines the nutritional quality of households, and households with a very low level score high in both “gross food insecurity” (more than 50% at peak) and “severe food insecurity” (more than 20% since 2020). As expected, “On the other hand, in households with a medium to high level, their overall insecurity remains below 2% and 1% is in the case of severe insecurity.”
ODSA also warned that informal structural activity remains a solid core. “The deficit in social security belonging – a direct indicator of informal employment and exclusion from the contributory system – remains practically unchanged in the most vulnerable sectors. This confirms that the recent decline in income poverty has not been accompanied by an improvement in work integration or pension coverage.”
Depression and anxiety in Argentina
In matters mental health, “There is evidence of this,” ODSA found He increases Symptoms Anxiety, distress and depression of 2022 Access to The highest value for the series in 2024 after the pandemic (…) “It will decrease slightly in 2025.”
At the same time he emphasized that Psychological discomfort expresses inequality existing, being Higher in poorer sectors. “The chronicity of anxiety and depression symptoms in 2023/2024 (crisis/adaptation) and in 2024/2025 (stabilization) is significantly higher and more persistent in people from lower socioeconomic strata,” the study notes.
Over time, mental health problems increased. “he 18.4% of urban adults reported experiencing psychological distress during the year 2010Years later, in 2024, “the number reaches its highest levels.” (28.1%). That is, 3 out of 10 people aged 18 or over experience symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. The last measurement for the year 2025 indicates a slight improvement of 1 percentage point (27.1%)“.
Another related fact is that psychological discomfort Up to half of women report experiencing gender-based violence. Although in this case the difference between socio-economic classes is not very noticeable.
LM/HP