Chapter 4 Updates to the Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet

Key messages
  • The cost and affordability of a healthy diet continues to be challenging. Continued monitoring of these indicators will remain important in light of recent global shocks threatening food security (FAO, 2023c).
  • The cost of a healthy diet in the Arab States in 2021 was 3.55 PPP dollars per person per day, slightly lower than the global estimate of 3.66 PPP dollars.
  • Since 2017, the cost of a healthy diet in the Arab States has increased annually, with a 2.5 percent increase between 2020 and 2021. The highest increase was in high-income countries (6.4 percent), followed by lower-middle-income-countries (4.4 percent), and upper-middle-income countries (3.5 percent).
  • In 2021, 43.8 percent of the region’s population or 141.6 million people, could not afford a healthy diet. In Arab LDCs, 82.9 percent of the population were unable to afford a healthy diet; nearly twice that of lower-middle-income countries (44 percent), and more than five times that of upper-middle-income countries (16.1 percent).