Welcome to the Food Desert Website
Feeling hungry? No proper food in the house? Can't face that trek to the shops? Tempted by a burger and some chips from the local takeaway, or a chocolate bar, but it's not really healthy, is it? You may be living in a food desert. The food desert website tells you all about food deserts, why they affect everybody, the links to globalisation and social exclusion, and how the effects of food deserts may be alleviated or eliminated.
Part I - What are food deserts?
What is a food desert (17 June 2008) Original use of the term 'desert' in an urban context, 1990s definitions of 'food desert', food deserts as seen in other countries.
How did food
deserts develop (18 May 2009) Development of grocery shopping in the UK
from the 17th century (see Part V UK Small
shops) for the most recent developments concerning the independent
retailing sector. Links to economic, technological, social, and political
/ planning factors that have impacted on the UK grocery retail sector during
this period
Where are the food deserts (24 February 2009)? Welcome to Desertia City, see what sorts of places may be food deserts - do you live in one?
Part II – Food Desert
Metrics
Measuring
Food Deserts (5 February 2010) – quantifying their extent and intensity
Part III - Combating obesity and improving diet
Obesity
figures for the UK, and medical effects of obesity (5 February
2010) Definition of obesity, obesity in the UK, theories on why obesity is
rising, medical effects of obesity, and the financial costs of obesity and poor
diet
Obesity figures worldwide, (5 February 2010). Figures for men, women, boys, and girls for countries worldwide, for various years.
What can be done to preserve access to groceries those affected by food deserts (10 August 2009). This section examines ways to keep small shops open, and more generally, how to preserve easy access to healthy food retailing for the disadvantaged. For the business climate affecting small grocery shops and the threats to this sector, see Part VI, small shops.
Initiatives to improve diet for various groups (15 November 2009)
Part IV - Research; food deserts, obesity, retailing, and related
subjects
Existing published research on food deserts (1 March 2007)
Table of Food Desert Research - 177 food access - related articles listed here (5 February 2010) .....If you know of a publication that you would like to appear in this section, please email Dr Hillary Shaw (hshaw@harper-adams.ac.uk, or hillshaw@aol.com), with a copy of the article if possible
Part V - UK Supermarket development.
UK supermarket sales and profits. (22 August 2009). Annual financial figures for UK retailers.
UK
Supermarket timelines and store numbers – for main UK retailers stores except Tesco. (5 February 2010).
Details key events, such as takeovers, new product development, new area
penetration, in the development of UK grocery retailers, and the number of
outlets operated in various years.
UK
supermarket timelines and store numbers – for Tesco only (5 February 2010).
Details key events, such as takeovers, new product development, new area
penetration, in the development of UK grocery retailers, and the number of
outlets operated in various years.
UK Supermarket market share, and size of total UK grocery market (15 November 2009)
Current trends
and issues in food retailing, for supermarkets (24
February 2009)
See also PART XIII, World Socio-Demographic Data Maps, below
Current trends and issues in food retailing, for UK small shops (15 November 2009)
Current trends in financial institutions, banks and Post Offices, as relating to small shops (24 February 2009)
Part VII -
World (non-UK) grocery retailing.
Non UK retailing situation, supermarkets and small shops, brief history of selected retailers
European countries (15 November 2009)
Countries from Asia, Africa, and the Americas (5
February 2010)
See also PART XIII, World Socio-Demographic Data Maps, below
Part VIII - food
retailing maps, UK
Click here for INDEX MAP - has your area been mapped yet?
Key to maps; map symbols this links to a page explaining in more detail the map symbols shown on the maps. For supermarket codes see supermarket code list
Part IX - food
desert maps of Denmark (Danish – fodevarer orkener,)
Part X - food
desert maps of Belgium (French - deserts d' alimentaire, Dutch – voedsel woestijn)
Part XI - food desert maps
of Germany (German - Lebensmittelwuste)
Part XII - food desert
maps of France (French - deserts d' alimentaire)
Global Total
= 12,886.8125 square kilometres
Part XIII –World Socio-Demographic Data Maps
This section details global variations in a
range of socio-demographic indicators of relevance to the social conditions
underlying world retailing.
1) Death Penalty Map
(map added 5 February 2010). Abolition of the death penalty within a national
legal system is a sign of growing concern over, and recognition of, Human
Rights in that country. Hence countries
that have abolished the death penalty tend to be more liberal in many respects,
with tolerance of many varied living arrangements and household types beyond
the traditional nuclear family. If a
country wants to join the European Union,
it must also abolish the death penalty. Retailers and marketers
have to take into account a wider range of consumer types, lifestyles, and consumption
habits. Note, this map indicates the date on which the death penalty was officially abolished for all offences,
including military and wartime. This date is often much later than the time when the death penalty cease to be used in
practice by the courts.
2) Male-Female
Literacy Differential Map (map added 5 February 2010). This map indicates, not the overall level of
literacy, but the gap between male and
female literacy rates. A country
where 55% of the men and 40% of the women can read scores the same, -15%, as a
country where 85% of the men and 70% of the women are literate. Many countries cannot afford to educate, even
to a basic level, all their citizens; however it is less clear why, in many
countries, boys are consistently more privileged with a basic education than
girls are. At a family level it may make
financial sense to concentrate limited educational resources into the male
children, as their potential earnings as men will be higher than for
women. But nationally this impoverishes
the country. Globally some 10% less women than men are literate; how many of these
350 million women, had they been given a basic education, would have gone on to
produce great scientific or social innovations? Higher female literacy rates are usually
associated with lower birth-rates, as these women have access to birth control
and also can command higher work earnings.
For retailers,
a higher female literacy rate will likely mean an older, more educated, and
more environmentally-conscious market, a shift from home cooking to prepared
meals, smaller families, less children, and a higher % spend on luxury goods as
the % household income going on essentials like food and shelter falls.
3) Population
Growth Map (map added 5 February 2010).
Between 1950 and 2009 the world
population increased by a factor of 2.65, from 2,560 million to 6,800 million. There are enormous variations within this;
come countries have seen their population increase by over 900%, whilst one
territory, former East Germany,
actually had a lower population in
2009 than it did in 1950, as did the US State of West Virginia. Globally,
poorer countries have higher population growth rates, whilst population growth
is lower both in wealthy countries and in formerly-prosperous industrial
territories. Poorer countries often lack a State social security net for old age
or sickness, and death rates are higher due to lower availability of medical
care, so women have more children to ensure that at least some survive to look
after the grandparents in their old age.
Women’s earnings in poorer countries are often limited so having more
children is less of a financial sacrifice.
In wealthy countries, the State
(or private pension schemes), not a multiplicity of younger family members,
provides old age support, and women forego much more salary to have a
child. In such prosperous lands, the
birth-rate is often insufficient to maintain the population, which would be
falling but for immigration from poorer regions. In formerly
prosperous industrial regions, the birth-rate is low, and there is
migration outwards, to wealthier places.
For retailers,
a high birth-rate may be attractive as it provides a growing market of
long-term consumers; but it also tends to go with a lower disposable income per
household. Middle-income countries like Poland, where there is opportunity for
supermarket expansion and enough spending power to support new retailers, are
perhaps the best bet for expansion abroad.
In Western Europe the
population growth is now almost all due to immigration, and retailers have had
to take account of an increasingly
diverse market in terms of food, annual holidays, clothes, Sharia-compliant
finance, and many other products and services.
Other
maps will be added from time to time to this section
Useful web links (22 August 2009)
