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Agri-Food Vulnerability IndexResearch snapshot · not a live alert
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Sierra Leone

Follow the food-system dependencies and response capacity behind the score. Explore 2014–2023, one year at a time.

Headline snapshot: all seven indicators weighted equally, averaged across 20 filled-in datasets.

Compare this country
Composite score in 20230.2960–1 · higher is more vulnerable
World rank#107Of 178 countries · rank 1 is most vulnerable
Food-basket import dependency21.7%Calorie-weighted dependency profile

A decade in context

Sierra Leone
0.000.250.500.751.002014201520162017201820192020202120222023Sierra Leone, 2014: 0.305Sierra Leone, 2015: 0.326Sierra Leone, 2016: 0.320Sierra Leone, 2017: 0.337Sierra Leone, 2018: 0.307Sierra Leone, 2019: 0.350Sierra Leone, 2020: 0.340Sierra Leone, 2021: 0.296Sierra Leone, 2022: 0.297Sierra Leone, 2023: 0.296

Higher means more vulnerable. All countries share the same 0–1 scale. Shading shows the range across 20 imputations, not a confidence interval.

View exact chart values
YearSierra Leone
20140.3050.305–0.305
20150.3260.326–0.326
20160.3200.320–0.320
20170.3370.337–0.337
20180.3070.307–0.307
20190.3500.350–0.350
20200.3400.340–0.340
20210.2960.296–0.296
20220.2970.297–0.297
20230.2960.296–0.296

The seven indicators in 2023

Bars use direction-adjusted normalized values: longer always means more vulnerable. Values beside titles retain published units; raw and normalized fields may reflect different imputation stages.

Food import burden

46.0%

Food imports as a percentage of merchandise exports. Source observations are three-year averages; 100% is the scoring saturation threshold.

Production concentration

2,015

Concentration of domestic production by tonnes. Heavy products can dominate this provisional measure.

Climate exposure

0.788

Normalized cereal-yield and population projections. This projection-based component is largely constant over the study window, not annual weather.

Adaptive capacity

0.300

ND-GAIN readiness. Higher is better: stronger capacity to respond to a shock. Darker shading indicates lower readiness.

Behind the import-dependency figure

The score uses bounded dependency values. These additional measures retain the underlying trade picture.

Gross dependency, uncapped
21.7%
Can exceed 100% for processing or re-export hubs.
Net import dependency
21.3%
Imports minus exports, relative to domestic supply; negative for net exporters.
Self-sufficiency ratio
78.7%
Basket-weighted domestic production relative to supply.
Calorie coverage
99.9%
Share of basket calories with usable dependency ratios; standalone IDR ranking requires at least 80%.

Built for open inquiry.

Research context: Raghvendra Singh, TU München, BSc Management & Data Science.

This is academic context, not university endorsement. The research snapshot is presented separately from Verdantia’s current solo-founder company status.

Suggested citation: Mandawewala, S., Singh, R., and Doan, B. See the full source and citation details ↗

Read the research limitations ↗

Source: CEPII, BACI HS12 (V202601). Etalab Open Licence 2.0.

Source: FAO. FAOSTAT (Food Balance Sheets / Food Security), 2026. Licence CC BY 4.0. FAO does not endorse any products or services.

Source: University of Notre Dame, ND-GAIN Country Index, 2026 edition. CC BY 3.0.