Chapter 4 Updates to the cost and affordability of a healthy diet
Key messages
- The sharp increase in global- and country-level consumer food prices in 2020 translated directly into an increased average cost of a healthy diet in the ECA region and in almost all ECA subregions. At the regional level, the average cost of a healthy diet in 2020 was USD 3.14 (USD 3.54 at the global level) per person per day, which represents a 3.3 percent (same as at the global level) increase from 2019 and a 6.2 percent (world 6.7 percent) increase from 2017.
- From 2019 to 2020, the EFTA subregion had the highest increase in the cost of a healthy diet (4.8 percent), followed by Central Asia (4.0 percent) and the EU27 and the United Kingdom (3.8 percent). In 2020, the Western Balkans had the costliest healthy diet in the region (USD 3.87 per person per day, much higher than the world average of USD 3.54). In 2020, roughly 3.6 percent of people in the ECA region were unable to afford a healthy diet, slightly increased from 3.5 percent in 2019. These results in the ECA region were much better than the global average estimates (42.0 percent).
- There are large variations in the unaffordability of a healthy diet in 2020 among ECA subregions, with the highest in Central Asia (21.5 percent), followed by the Western Balkans (14.6 percent). Three of the study countries had a very high percentage of their populations unable to afford a healthy diet: 49.6 percent (higher than the world average) in Kyrgyzstan, 42.9 percent (higher than the world average) in Armenia, and 42.1 percent (equal to the world average) in Tajikistan.
- In 2020, the number of people in the ECA region (covering 46 countries in the study) who could not afford a healthy diet was 30.4 million, with some 1 million added from 2019. This number is likely higher as data are missing for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The greatest increase took place in Central Asia (0.5 million) and CIS Europe and Ukraine (0.6 million).