Context: The report, ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI) 2023, was published recently shows that while the cost of a healthy diet has increased in recent years in India, it is still the lowest among the BRICS nations (including the newly added six countries) and India’s neighbours. However, the share of people who can afford such a healthy diet is still low: India features at the bottom of that list since income levels are stagnant or going down.
About ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) Report
- This is the most intensely scrutinized FAO’s annual report presents the headline number of undernourished people around the world while advocating for strategies against hunger and malnutrition.
- SOFI is jointly produced with fellow UN agencies IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO.
- In the SOFI report, the cost of a healthy diet is arrived at by looking at the cheapest local food items that meet dietary guidelines.
- The cost and availability of such food items are averaged from national data.
- To check if the diet is affordable, its cost is compared to the average income in each country.
- A diet is considered too expensive if it costs more than 52% of a country’s average income.
- This percentage is based on data showing that people in low-income countries spend about 52% of their income on food.
- The percentage of people who cannot afford this diet is then calculated by using income distributions within a nation.
Major Findings of the Report
- The report points out that the cost of meals in Mumbai rose by 65% in five years, while salaries/wages rose by just 28%-37%.
- In India, a healthy diet costs 3.066 PPP dollars per person per day, the lowest among the countries considered. PPP stands for ‘Purchasing Power Parity’.
- In India, 74% were not able to afford a healthy diet, the fourth highest share among the nations considered.
- The expense of maintaining a healthy diet increased by almost 9% in Asia between 2019 to 21 — the highest across regions.
- Between 2019 and 2021, Asia followed by Africa recorded the highest growth in the number of people who could not afford a healthy diet. The two continents together made up 92% of the worldwide increase. In Asia, South Asia had the highest number of people (1.4 billion) and the highest share (72%) who could not afford a healthy diet. This rate was nearly double the average for the region. In Africa, Eastern and Western Africa together had the most people (712 million) and the highest share (85%) who could not afford a healthy diet.
