Rising food prices are now the dominant worry for Fijian households, with a new Dialogue Fiji survey finding more than half of respondents — 53.3 percent — naming food price increases as their primary concern. The National Budget 2026–2027 Public Priorities Survey described the result as “extraordinary,” saying it points to an experience of food price stress that is “not merely widespread but near‑universal.”
The survey paints a stark picture of household hardship. Nearly 70 percent of respondents characterised their economic situation as either “severe” or “very severe,” and 26.8 percent said pressures at home were “very severe,” signalling crisis‑level conditions for a substantial share of families. After food prices, low income and unemployment was the next most cited problem at 12.7 percent, followed by housing costs or rent at 8.8 percent and crime or safety concerns at 7.6 percent. Together those four issues account for 82 percent of all responses, the report noted.
Geography and living conditions shape how these stresses are felt. Rural villages reported the highest combined share of “severe” and “very severe” responses at 70.5 percent, while informal settlements recorded the largest single share of households rating their situation as “severe.” Urban households reported a slightly wider range of experiences, a difference the report attributes in part to greater access to income opportunities and services in towns and cities.
Dialogue Fiji said the findings should be a wake‑up call for policymakers preparing the 2026–2027 national budget. The organisation urged targeted policy responses to ease household pressures, specifically pointing to measures that improve food affordability and strengthen income support. The survey frames those priorities as urgent given the scale and intensity of reported hardship.
The new data arrives against a backdrop of wider concern over cost‑of‑living pressures in Fiji. Consumer watchdogs have previously warned that global disruptions pushing up fuel prices — such as tensions in the Middle East — can feed through quickly to domestic fuel and food costs in an import‑dependent economy. Advocacy groups and service providers have also been calling for a reassessment of social support programs, warning that existing aid may not be sufficient as living costs rise.
What is new in this update is the granular, nationally focused snapshot of what households say is hurting them most and where stress is deepest. By quantifying that over half of respondents place food price increases first among their worries, and by showing high concentrations of severe hardship in rural and informal settings, the survey gives policymakers clearer evidence on where budget measures and social assistance might need to be concentrated. Dialogue Fiji said it expects these findings to shape public debate and the government’s priorities as budget consultations move forward.