Food nutrition security (FNS) is a multidisciplinary term that encompasses a set of the
complex economic and social determinants. Recent food spikes were raising concerns
on the food and nutrition security at all its levels (global, national, household and
individual). In this paper we estimate demand for food diversity in Kosovo. Theoretical
framework suggests that food diversity serves as a proxy for food and nutritional status
at the household level. Here we employ standard OLS in order to estimate the impact of
income (and other determinants) on the demand for the food diversity. Further, we
compute relevant anthropometric indicator (Body Mass Index) in order to access the
state of the FNS at the individual level. For the purpose of empirical estimation we use
the HBS data on Kosovo covering the period 2005-2012. The main findings suggest that
food diversity in Kosovo marked important improvement over the time period observed,
reflecting the impact of rising income as a key determinant of the food diet. The pattern
of the household food consumption remained diversified over the time period observed,
but restricted by the low level of income. Food diversity in the urban households is
significantly higher than in rural areas. Individual variables in the most of the cases were
determined as significant. Anthropometric estimates were evidencing that prevalence of
undernourishment is particularly critical in the case of school-age children, while the
main nutritional problem among the adults is overweight.