Chapter 4 Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet

Key messages
  • In 2021, the average cost of a healthy diet in the region changed by as much as 5.3 percent and was estimated at 4.15 PPP dollars per person per day.
  • There were 1.9 billion people who could not afford a healthy diet in 2021. This is an improvement of 80.4 million people compared to 2020.
  • By subregion, Southern Asia had the highest number of people who could not afford the cost of a healthy diet in 2021 (1.4 billion). South-eastern Asia follows with 357.4 million people, an increase of 8.4 million – or 0.9 percent points – compared to 2020.