Pacific food systems in the Pacific Data Hub

Rows are datasets or single indicator series; columns are countries and territories. Cells show data that actually exists. Click a row or a country code to open its report.

How many countries have data, per dataset and year.

SPC describes each dataflow with 9 reference metadata attributes, attached to the whole dataflow, one indicator, one country or one observation. Each row combines the levels that apply to it. Colour shows the level; a percentage is the share of the row's indicators covered.

Extracts from the datasets above, each with its main strength and caveat.

Two analyses that go beyond single datasets: one joins five dataflows, the other uses the network shape of trade. Each comes with its caveats.

1 · Where do Pacific calories come from?

Import quantities are converted into nutrients with the Pacific Nutrient Database, set against calories from local root crops and bananas, and divided by residents plus, optionally, tourists. Joining these datasets needs a hand-built bridge between product codes, which is the main limitation shown below.

2 · How complex is Pacific food trade?

The Food Trade Database is a network of country-to-country, product-level flows, so Hidalgo and Hausmann's economic complexity can be computed for it each year: countries are linked to the food products they export with revealed comparative advantage (RCA ≥ 1), the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) ranks countries, and the Product Complexity Index (PCI) ranks products.

Two maps of what moves food around the Pacific and what the statistics see of it. Both are demos: playful views of real data with stated limits, not food balance sheets.

Who feeds whom?

Every food flow in the Pacific Food Trade Database between the 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories, and with the rest of the world grouped into regions. Edges bend to the left of their direction of travel and pulse from exporter to importer. Press ▶ to watch three decades of trade.

The invisible fish

The trade map misses the most important local food: fish caught at home. SPC's Benefish 4 study estimates every country's catch by sector for 2021; FAO FishStat records catch as reported to FAO or imputed by FAO, by the flag of the vessel. The two disagree a lot.

All figures are computed from the data on this page.