Only 44 per cent women of childbearing age in Sub-Saharan Africa achieved minimum dietary diversity between 2019 and 2023, a new report reveals.
The assessment, titled Tracking Progress on Food and Agriculture-Related SDG Indicators 2025 was released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
It assessed progress on 22 indicators under the FAO’s custodianship spanning six Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — SDGs 2 (Zero Hunger), 5 (Gender Equality), 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 14 (Life Below Water), and 15 (life on Land).
According to the report, the world is close to achieving one-quarter of the relevant targets, while another quarter remains far or very far from completion. For the remaining half, countries in general are moderately positioned to meet them.
To achieve the SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) target, a new indicator on minimum dietary diversity (MDD) has been introduced, emphasising the vital role of healthy diets in addressing all forms of malnutrition.
The addition of MDD for children and women to SDG Target 2.2, with overwhelming support from the Interagency and Expert Group on SDG indicators (IAEG-SDG) and international development stakeholders, is testimony to the essential role of healthy diets in achieving the 2030 Agenda.
MDD enables, for the first time, gauging the extent to which diets are likely to be inadequate in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) worldwide.
The first global estimate of minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W) from 88 UN Member States provides a sobering baseline, with only two-thirds (64.7 per cent) of women of childbearing age globally having achieved minimum dietary diversity between 2019 and 2023.
In other words, one-third of women are at risk of having diets that are inadequate in the micronutrients required for nutrition, health, well-being and productivity.
MDD-W measures the proportion of women aged 15-49 years who have consumed at least five out of 10 predefined food groups (Grains, Pulses, Nuts and seeds, Milk and milk products, Meat, poultry and fish, Eggs, Dark green leafy vegetables, Vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables, other vegetables, and other fruits).
The progress assessment of MDD-W shows that the world and most of the regions are at moderate distance to achieving the target, with a general trend of deterioration over time.
According to the report, regional breakdown suggests vast differences, with the lowest MDD-W prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa (43.63 per cent), Central and Southern Asia (47.71 per cent) and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand) (61.3 per cent).
The report highlights that Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia (84.05 per cent) is close to the target, whereas all other regions — North America and Europe (78.97 per cent), Latin America and the Caribbean (77.47 per cent), and Western Asia and Northern Africa (74.04 per cent) are at a moderate distance from the target.
The Food Systems Countdown Initiative 2025 highlights how MDD is highly connected to other agrifood system indicators, such as the availability of nutritious foods, the cost and affordability of a healthy diet and the experience of food insecurity.
Nutrition-specific actions to improve diets will be essential to increasing MDD globally. However, its desired upward trajectory will also be dependent on coordinated nutrition-sensitive actions across systems, such as reducing poverty and strengthening social protection systems, leaving no one behind, according to FAO.
The FAO warned that without urgent and coordinated global action, the world risks failing to meet its 2030 targets related to hunger, sustainability, and equality.