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

Key messages
  • The cost of a healthy diet in the Arab States was 3.77 PPP (purchasing power parity) dollars per person per day in 2022, up by 6.8 percent from the year before. Since 2017, the cost of a healthy diet has increased by 28.2 percent.
  • In 2022, 151.3 million people, almost one-third of the region’s population (32.6 percent) could not afford a healthy diet in the Arab States. The subgroup with the highest share of its population unable to afford a healthy diet in 2022 was the group of countries affected by conflict (41.2 percent) and the Arab States LDCs (36.4 percent).
  • Despite the continuously growing cost of a healthy diet in recent years, there was a significant decrease in the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet between 2020 and 2021, followed by a slight increase in 2022. The 2020–2021 decrease might be partly attributed to the expansion of access to social protection in the COVID-19 pandemic response across the region.