TheFood Prices for Nutrition DataHubprovides access to global statistics on the cost and affordability of healthy diets and related indicators. These data use food item availability and prices from theInternational Comparison Program (ICP), combined with food composition data and nutritional requirements from a wide range of sources including national dietary guidelines.
The 33 indicators and their metadata cover:
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Junk food and your healthTop 10 Foods for HealthBest diet for 2024 goes to a science-backed style of eating | CNNMindful Eating 101 — A Beginner’s GuideDiet cost
- Cost of a healthy diet, per person per day
- Cost of an energy sufficient diet and a nutrient adequate diet, per person per day
- Cost per person per day, cost share, and cost relative to starchy staples of different food groups (fruits; vegetables; starchy staples; animal-sourced foods; legumes, nuts and seeds; and oils and fats)
Diet affordability
- Share ofthepopulationand number of peoplewho cannot afford each diet cost
- Ratio of each diet cost toobserved nationalaverage food expenditures
- Ratio of each diet cost to the food component of the international poverty line
For further information on definitions and methods please refer toMethodology.
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Healthy eating basicsDATA HIGHLIGHTS
- In 2021 the global average daily cost of a healthy diet in current purchasing power parities was $3.66. In low-income countries the average cost was $3.37, while in high-income countries it was slightly higher at $3.43. The highest cost was observed in upper-middle-income countries, where a healthy diet cost $3.91, while in lower-middle-income countries the average was slightly less at $3.88.
- These diet costs are much higher than the current international poverty line of $2.15 per day and significantly higher than the $1.12 food poverty line, which is set at 52% of the international poverty line based on the average share of income that households in low-income countries spend on food.
- Comparing these costs with income distribution data provides a measure of the affordability of the diet. Around 42% - or 3.1 billion - of the global population could not afford a healthy diet in 2021. In low-income and lower-middle-income countries the proportions were 86% and 70% respectively, and in the ten most afflicted countries over 90% of the population could not afford a healthy diet.
- These headline data are available for the years 2017 to 2021. The share of the population unable to afford a healthy diet fell across all income groups and most regions between 2017 and 2019 but rose again in 2020 before decreasing again in 2021. This may be attributed to the sharp increase in global consumer food prices, relative to income change, in the second half of 2020 impacting the affordability of the diet. The exception was Latin America and the Caribbean where the shares rose over 2020 to 2021 from 20.9% to 22.6%.
- The cost of each food group making up the cost of a healthy diet in 2017 is also provided. The most expensive of the food groups is animal-sourced foods, priced on average at $0.87 for the daily quantity needed in a healthy diet. For this food group, the highest cost recorded is in South Asia at $1.08. Vegetables are the second most expensive at $0.79 while fruits cost $0.66 on average.
- The cost of each food group relative to the cost of starchy staples – often an easily accessible food providing calories – is also provided. The cost of vegetables relative to starchy staples was highest in the Maldives at over four times the cost, while fruits were 3.7 times the cost of starchy staples in Italy for example.
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