Healthy food, but at a high price

A new United Nations report reiterates that Latin America and the Caribbean have the highest cost of a healthy diet in the world.

Between 2020 and 2021, the costs of a healthy diet increased by 5.3% in the regionan increase that can be explained by the rise in food inflation fueled by quarantines, disruptions in the global supply chain and human resource shortages that occurred during this period.

Average price of a healthy diet the world level is 3.66 dollars per person per day. Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with the highest costs of a healthy diet, reaching $4.08 per day, according to a new United Nations report, “Regional Panorama of Food and Nutrition Security 2023.”

Asia follows, at $3.90; Africa with $3.57; North America and Europe, with $3.22; and finally Oceania, with $3.20.

The Regional Food and Nutrition Security Review 2023 is a joint publication of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), World Food Program (WFP) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Data

The new report also shows that 6.5% of population of Latin America and the Caribbean is starving, i.e. 43.2 million people.

Although this figure represents a slight improvement compared to 0.5 percentage points Compared to the previous measurement, the prevalence of hunger in the region is still 0.9 percentage points above the record of 2019, before the pandemic.’

Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly facing a complex problem of malnutrition that includes malnutrition – stunted growth, loss of childhood and lack of vitamins and minerals? such as overweight and obesity.

The report also shows that in 2022, 247.8 million people in the region experienced food insecurity moderate or severe, that is, they were forced to reduce the quality or quantity of food they consumed, or even went without food, starved and, in the most extreme case, did not eat for days, endangering their health and well-being. be in danger. serious risk.