Affordability is a key factor contributing to the adoption of healthy diets and, consequently, the prevention of malnutrition and diet-related disease outcomes. While the cost of a healthy diet is an important indicator of purchasing power, income levels are also critical to evaluating the affordability of healthy diets.
Globally, the share of the population unable to afford a healthy diet has been gradually improving, from when it was first measured by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2017 (41%) to the most recent measurement in 2022 (35%). Many households faced both rising food inflation and reduced income during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a nearly 2% increase (151 million additional people) in the global average share of people unable to afford a healthy diet between 2019 and 2020. Despite the increase at the beginning of the pandemic, this number decreased in 2021 and 2022, continuing the declining global trend from before the pandemic. This trend from the past five years is still well off track from the pace needed to eliminate this key component of food insecurity (food unaffordability) by 2030.
These trends have also varied across regions. The prevalence of unaffordability is highest in sub-Saharan Africa (72% of the population), Southern Asia (53%) and the Caribbean (50%). In sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, prevalence of unaffordability has increased since 2017, with the highest levels recorded in 2021 and 2022.