Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
-
Book (stand-alone)Technical studyThe impact of trade openness on the cost and affordability of a healthy diet
Background paper for The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) 2024
2025Also available in:
No results found.This study examines how trade openness affects the cost and affordability of healthy diets using cross-country data on food prices linked to nutritional composition. Using retail price data collected from 175 countries in the context of the 2017 cycle of the World Bank’s International Comparison Program, the research investigates whether trade openness correlates with lower food prices and if this effect varies for healthier products. The analysis confirms that lower trade barriers are associated with reduced food prices, consistent with standard international trade theory. This finding holds across different measures of trade openness and levels of analysis. Importantly, results show no evidence that international trade disproportionately affects processed food prices or makes healthy options relatively more expensive. -
Book (series)Working paperMethods for monitoring the affordability of a healthy diet 2024
Also available in:
No results found.This study updates the methods for monitoring the affordability of a healthy diet, calculated semiannually by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Bank. The new affordability method described provides a valuable advance for the global monitoring of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet. From the initial method introduced in 2020 to the healthy diet basket approach introduced in 2022 and now the inclusion of the cost of basic non-food needs in 2024, this food access indicator has developed and matured rapidly. -
Book (series)Working paperMethods for monitoring the cost of a healthy diet based on price data from the International Comparison Program 2024
Also available in:
No results found.The cost of a healthy diet (CoHD) and the affordability indicators – namely the prevalence (PUA) and the number (NUA) of people unable to afford a healthy diet – measure economic access to adequate food aligned with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) definition of food security. This paper describes and validates methods to compute the cost of a healthy diet in the gap years between the International Comparison Program (ICP) publication cycles using food inflation, or general inflation if food inflation data are not available. It also shows that adjusting energy requirements based on different demographics leads to minor changes in cost (less than 3 percent) and requires extra computational and data inputs while complicating the meaning of the indicator, and therefore is not recommended. Inflation data provide unbiased estimates at the global, regional and income group level for the short term, but this method may not capture accurate diet cost changes at the individual country or territory level. Higher frequency retail price data at the food item level are needed for more accurate and timely monitoring at the country or territory level.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
-
BookletHigh-profileFAO Strategy on Climate Change 2022–2031 2022The FAO Strategy on Climate Change 2022–2031 was endorsed by FAO Council in June 2022. This new strategy replaces the previous strategy from 2017 to better FAO's climate action with the Strategic Framework 2022-2031, and other FAO strategies that have been developed since then. The Strategy was elaborated following an inclusive process of consultation with FAO Members, FAO staff from headquarters and decentralized offices, as well as external partners. It articulates FAO's vision for agrifood systems by 2050, around three main pillars of action: at global and regional level, at country level, and at local level. The Strategy also encourages key guiding principles for action, such as science and innovation, inclusiveness, partnerships, and access to finance.
-
Book (series)FlagshipThe State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021
Transforming food systems for food security, improved nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all
2021In recent years, several major drivers have put the world off track to ending world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. The challenges have grown with the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures. This report presents the first global assessment of food insecurity and malnutrition for 2020 and offers some indication of what hunger might look like by 2030 in a scenario further complicated by the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes new estimates of the cost and affordability of healthy diets, which provide an important link between the food security and nutrition indicators and the analysis of their trends. Altogether, the report highlights the need for a deeper reflection on how to better address the global food security and nutrition situation.To understand how hunger and malnutrition have reached these critical levels, this report draws on the analyses of the past four editions, which have produced a vast, evidence-based body of knowledge of the major drivers behind the recent changes in food security and nutrition. These drivers, which are increasing in frequency and intensity, include conflicts, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns – all exacerbated by the underlying causes of poverty and very high and persistent levels of inequality. In addition, millions of people around the world suffer from food insecurity and different forms of malnutrition because they cannot afford the cost of healthy diets. From a synthesized understanding of this knowledge, updates and additional analyses are generated to create a holistic view of the combined effects of these drivers, both on each other and on food systems, and how they negatively affect food security and nutrition around the world.In turn, the evidence informs an in-depth look at how to move from silo solutions to integrated food systems solutions. In this regard, the report proposes transformative pathways that specifically address the challenges posed by the major drivers, also highlighting the types of policy and investment portfolios required to transform food systems for food security, improved nutrition, and affordable healthy diets for all. The report observes that, while the pandemic has caused major setbacks, there is much to be learned from the vulnerabilities and inequalities it has laid bare. If taken to heart, these new insights and wisdom can help get the world back on track towards the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in all its forms. -
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookHuman energy requirements
Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation
2004Also available in:
No results found.Since 1949, FAO has convened groups of experts to evaluate current scientific knowledge in order to define the energy requirements of humans and propose dietary energy recommendations for populations. The World Health Organization (WHO) joined this initiative in the early 1950s, and the United Nations University (UNU) in 1981. New scientific knowledge generated in the 20 years since the last consultation was held prompted the assembly of a new expert consultation to make recommen dations for energy requirements of populations throughout the life cycle. This publication is the report of that consultation, which took place from 17 to 24 October 2001 at FAO headquarters in Rome. The report is not meant merely to describe the energy expenditure and requirements of population groups. It is intended also to be prescriptive in supporting and maintaining health and good nutrition, defining human energy requirements and proposing dietary energy recommendations for populations. The new concepts and recommendations set forth in the report include: calculation of energy requirements for all ages; modification of the requirements and dietary energy recommendations for infants, older children and adolescents; proposals for different requirements for populations with lifestyles that involve different levels of habitual physical activity; reassessment of energy requirements for adults, based on energy expenditure estimates expressed as multiples of basal metabolic rates; classification and recommendations of physical activity levels; an experimental approach for factorial estimates of the energy needs of pregnancy and lactation; and recommendations for additional dietary energy needs in the two last trimesters of pregnancy. The report is accompanied by a CD-ROM software program and instruction manual on calculating population energy requirements and food needs.