Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Economist Intelligence Unit (United Kingdom) has published a report on the Global Food Security Index for 2019. According to the report, the index includes 113 countries, as in 2018.

The index consists of three main components: the level of accessibility and consumption of food, the availability and sufficiency of food, and the level of quality and safety of food.

Altogether, 87 countries improved their performance, in 18 countries the level of food security declined, and the situation in 8 countries remained unchanged.

Uzbekistan also improved its performance, taking the final 71th place in the world and rising by 9 positions compared to 2018. Among the countries of Central Asia, Kazakhstan (48th place) and Tajikistan (93rd place) also improved their performance in this index.

The index assessment methodology indicates that the greatest positive changes in Uzbekistan were observed in such indicators as the ability of cities to absorb food flows, food safety, and tariffs on imports of agricultural products. However, in indicators such as the volatility of agricultural production, government spending on agricultural research and changes in the average cost of food there was a slight decrease.

The Global Food Security Index is published by The Economist Intelligence Unit, a British research company, with the support of Corteva Agriscience, an American company that was previously part of the DowDuPont structure. The study has been conducted since 2012 and currently represents the most comprehensive set of indicators of the state of food security in various countries of the world.