Healthy diets now a luxury for billions: Cost of healthy diets 47% higher than ultra-processed foods

Rising global food inflation is widening the gap between healthy and unhealthy diets, making nutritious food inaccessible for billions, especially in low- and middle-income countries, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) 2025 report released on July 28, 2025  by five United Nations agencies.

The cost of nutrient-rich foods — particularly fruits, vegetables and animal-based products — has soared and remains highly volatile, while ultra-processed foods and starchy staples continue to be more affordable despite offering poor nutritional value. The report underscores that this growing disparity is entrenching unhealthy dietary patterns among the world’s poorest.

An analysis of global price data from 2011, 2017 and 2021 revealed a persistent and stable disparity in the costs of different food groups. Ultra-processed foods were, on average, 47 per cent cheaper than unprocessed or minimally processed foods and 50 per cent cheaper than processed foods by 2021.

On the other hand, “price premiums for nutrient-rich foods, particularly vegetables, fruits and animal source foods, remain substantial and volatile, reinforcing economic barriers to dietary diversity,” the report said. 

This price disparity was one of the major drivers of unhealthy dietary patterns, especially among the world’s poorest.

Diet inflation outpaces general inflation

Global food inflation has consistently exceeded general inflation since 2020, peaking in January 2023 when food prices rose 13.6 per cent, compared to 8.5 per cent for overall inflation. This spike has been fuelled by pandemic-era fiscal shocks, extreme weather events, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical crises such as the Russia-Ukraine war.

As of 2024, around 2.6 billion people — 32 per cent of the global population — could not afford a healthy diet, a slight improvement from 2.76 billion in 2019 due to post-COVID economic recovery. But the gains have been uneven: while Asia saw notable improvements and modest gains were observed in Latin America, Europe and Oceania, Africa’s numbers worsened, rising from 864 million to 1 billion people unable to afford healthy diets.

The recovery also varied by income group. “The number of people unable to afford a healthy diet in low-income countries has been steadily increasing since 2017, whereas in upper-middle- and high-income countries, the number has been declining since 2020,” the report said.

What is a healthy diet?

SOFI 2025 defined a healthy diet as one that includes whole grains, legumes, nuts, and an abundance and variety of fruits and vegetables and can include moderate amounts of eggs, dairy, poultry and fish and small amounts of red meat. 

While it can vary widely across regions, a healthy diet should have four universal characteristics: It is diverse and composed of a variety of foods and food groups, adequate in essential nutrients and bioactive compounds important for health, balanced across macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) andmoderate in dietary components that are detrimental to health if consumed in excess.

Worldwide, the cost of a healthy diet (CoHD) has risen since 2017, reaching an average of 4.46 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars per person per day in 2024. 

In 2024, the CoHD was highest in Latin America and the Caribbean (5.16 PPP dollars), followed by Asia (4.43 PPP dollars), Africa (4.41 PPP dollars), Northern America and Europe (4.02 PPP dollars) and Oceania (3.86 PPP dollars). Africa had the greatest increase among all world regions from 2023 to 2024, as per the report.

Price shocks, lack of diet diversity fuel child wasting

The report also linked rising food costs and limited diet diversity to serious health consequences, especially among young children and women.

The analysis found that a 10 per cent increase in food prices was associated with a 2.7 to 4.3 per cent rise in wasting among children under five, and a 4.8 to 6.1 per cent increase in severe wasting — a life-threatening condition linked to acute undernutrition. 

These effects persisted even after accounting for access to essential services such as clean water, sanitation and public health care. 

The global prevalence of child wasting was estimated at 6.6 per cent by the report.  

Globally, only one-third (34 per cent) of children aged 6 to 23 months and two-thirds (65 per cent) of women aged 15 to 49 meet the minimum standards for dietary diversity. In other words, about two-thirds of infants and one-third of women were consuming diets that fall short of essential vitamins and minerals, increasing their risk of malnutrition and long-term health complications.

SOFI is an annual report prepared by five UN agencies — Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNICEF, World Food Programme and World Health Organization