Household Income Diversification and Food Security in Somalia: Role of Urbanization, Displacement, and Household Size

Household well-being and sustainable development depend on food security, but in fragile regions such as Somalia, urbanization, violence, displacement, and climate change continue to affect households. Although income diversification, particularly through regular income, food assistance and remittances, is widely recognized as resilience strategy, existing research frequently overlooks its effectiveness due to regional and demographic factors. This study closes this gap by examining how household size, place of residence, and displacement status affect the relationship between food insecurity and income diversification using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and Urbanization Theory. Using nationally representative data from the Somalia Integrated Household Budget Survey, the study estimates linear probability, logit, and probit models to assess the risk of food insecurity across different income sources. According to the research, regular income and food assistance significantly reduce food insecurity, but remittances alone do not consistently improve food outcomes. Additionally, there is notable heterogeneity in effectiveness, as diversification strategies vary across internally displaced households, larger families, and urban dwellers. Overall, the results indicate that, to improve food security in Somalia in a sustainable way, income-based interventions alone will not be sufficient; context-sensitive livelihood policies and targeted social protection are also required.