Chapter 4 Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet: An Update for Latin America and the Caribbean
Key Messages
- Diet quality is associated with food security and nutrition because poor diet quality can be
related to different forms of malnutrition, including stunting, anaemia, as well as overweight
and obesity.
- The average cost of a healthy diet globally in 2020 was USD 3.54 per person per day, which is
3.3 percent and 6.7 percent more than in 2019 and 2017, respectively. Latin America and the
Caribbean had the highest cost of a healthy diet compared to other regions, at USD 3.89 per
person per day in 2020, followed by Asia (USD 3.46), Northern America and Europe (USD 3.19) and
Oceania (USD 3.07).
- Between 2019 and 2020, the cost of a healthy diet in the region increased by 3.4 percent. In the
Caribbean the rise was the highest (4.1 percent), while in Mesoamerica the increase was half
this (2.1 percent), and in South America the rise was 2.7 percent.
- In 2020, 131 million people in the region could not afford a healthy diet. This is an increase
of 8 million from 2019, and is due to the higher cost of healthy diets in the region, where 22.5
percent of the population cannot afford a healthy diet. In the Caribbean more than half of the
population cannot afford a healthy diet. In Mesoamerica this number is 27.8 percent, and in
South America, 18.4 percent.
