Billions of people in the world cannot afford a healthy diet

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (fawThis Wednesday published some data reminding us that although the world has made progress in providing enough calories to feed the global population, There is still a long way to go to sustainably feed everyone, everywhere.

Latin America and the Caribbean is the region where a healthy diet incurs the highest costwith $3.89 per person per day in 2020, followed by Asia ($3.72), Africa ($3.46), North America and Europe ($3.19), and Oceania ($3.07). Tufts University and the world bank.

The UN agency recently conducted a large-scale operation analysis About how many people have access to a healthy diet that offers a variety of nutrient-dense foods, in line with dietary guidelines. The results revealed that approx 3.1 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet in 2020which is 112 million more people than in 2019.

Of the 112 million more people who could not afford a healthy diet than in 2019, 78 are in Asia, 25 are in Africa, eight are in Latin America and the Caribbean and North America, and one million live in Europe. In twelve countries, all of them in Africa, more than 90% of the population has no access to a healthy diet on a regular basis.

“Eliminating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms (including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity) is about more than just getting enough food to survive: What people eat should also be nutritious“However, the main obstacle is the high cost of nutritious food and the low affordability of healthy meals for large numbers of people around the world,” said David Laborde, Director of FAO’s Agri-Food Economics Division.

The data is available to everyone

“Tracking and affordability of healthy diets is a step forward in recognizing the need to feed the world, not just feed it,” said Lynette Neufeld, Director of Food and Nutrition at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Pointers’ also provide us with a starting point for Generate locally relevant evidence to guide policies and programmes To make healthy meals accessible to everyone and at all times.”

The set of indicators is now available to you Query and download in the agency’s data center. FAOSTAT is the world’s largest data platform for food and agriculture, with nearly 20,000 indicators covering more than 245 countries and territories.

The computerization, monitoring and reporting of global, regional and national indicators on the cost and affordability of a healthy diet is now institutionalized and will be regularly updated by FAO. This provides a new and reliable benchmark for monitoring global progress towards affordable, healthy food for all.

The indices are based on an integrated set of data, computed from variables such as retail prices of locally available food and Dietary guidelines Based on food, patterns of household income distribution in countries and formulas needed to establish PPPs.

“Systematically measuring and monitoring the cost and affordability of healthy diets and action to ensure affordability is critical and urgently needed,” said José, Director of Statistics at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. FAO has stepped up and taken on this task. the mission”. Rosero Moncayo.

future prospects

The FAO COAHD project is part of a broader set of activities that will contribute to achieving one of its four objectives within its scope Strategic Framework 2022-2031: better feeding.

This initiative is part of the Agency’s commitment to generating evidence to advise countries on their food and nutrition policies. FAO encourages its Members and all stakeholders to extend the counting and reporting of these indicators to the sub-national level, thus contributing to the search for more tailored policies and programs to have a greater impact on the ground.

The next report on The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World It will be published in July 2023.