Chapter 4 Updates to the Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet
Key messages
- Diet quality is a critical link between food security and nutrition. Poor diet quality can lead to different forms of undernutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, but also to overweight and obesity.
- In 2021, the average cost of a healthy diet in Africa was 3.57 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars per person per day, an increase of 5.6 percent from its 2020 level.
- The cost of a healthy diet was much higher than the extreme poverty threshold of 2.15 PPP dollars per person per day, meaning that not only the poor but also a large proportion of people defined as non-poor could not afford a healthy diet.
- More than three-quarters of the population in Africa, approximately one billion people, were unable to afford a healthy diet in 2021, about 51 million more people since the COVID 19 pandemic. Western Africa and Eastern Africa had the largest cumulative increases between 2019 and 2021.
- The steady increase in the cost of a healthy diet in Africa and in all the subregions except Northern Africa is compromising food security and nutrition. The number of people unable to afford a healthy diet is on the rise.