Rising food prices have emerged as the single biggest challenge facing Fijian households, according to the Dialogue Fiji National Budget 2026–2027 Public Priorities Survey.
More than half of respondents — 53.3 per cent — identified food price increases as their primary concern, a result the report describes as “extraordinary” given the range of issues presented.
“This finding suggests that the experience of food price stress is not merely widespread but near-universal,” the survey noted.
Low income and unemployment ranked a distant second at 12.7 per cent, followed by housing costs or rent (8.8 per cent) and crime or safety concerns (7.6 per cent). Together, these four issues account for 82 per cent of all responses, highlighting a cluster of economic and social pressures affecting households.
The report also revealed the severity of these challenges, with nearly 70 per cent of respondents describing their situation as either “severe” or “very severe”.
“This is a community under acute stress,” the report stated.
More than one in four respondents — 26.8 per cent — said their household pressures were “very severe”, indicating crisis-level conditions for many families.
The impact is particularly pronounced in rural and informal communities. Rural villages recorded the highest combined “severe” and “very severe” responses at 70.5 per cent, while informal settlements showed the highest proportion of “severe” ratings alone.
Despite facing similar pressures, urban households reported a slightly wider range of experiences, likely reflecting greater access to income opportunities and services.
Dialogue Fiji said the findings highlight the urgent need for targeted policy responses to ease household pressures, particularly around food affordability and income support, ahead of the upcoming national budget.
