1 in 3 People Cannot Afford a Healthy Diet - Press Conference | United Nations

Press Conference by Máximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He briefed journalists on the high cost of a healthy diet and what to expect from the upcoming State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report 2026, which will be launched on 21 July in Rome. Máximo Torero Cullen said, “almost one in every three people in the world still cannot afford a healthy diet.” Under the theme “Understanding and addressing the high cost of a healthy diet,” this year’s report will present the latest global assessment of food security and nutrition and progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 2, as well as the latest updates on the cost and affordability of a healthy diet. The 2026 edition of SOFI examines the persistent challenge posed by the high cost of a healthy diet (CoHD) and its implications for ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. The FAO’s Chief Economist said, “the report shows that the global cost of a healthy diet has increased 25 percent in just five years, reaching 4.28 US dollars purchasing power parity dollars per person per day. As a result, 2.69 billion people, almost one in every three people in the world still cannot afford a healthy diet.” Torero also said, “the most important finding is that calories are relatively inexpensive, but nutrition is not.” He explained, “staple food provide about half of the calories we need, yet represent only 13 percent of the cost of a healthy diet. In contrast, fruits and vegetables provide only 5 percent of the calories but account for 16 percent of the cost, so significantly more expensive than cereals. While animal source foods account for almost 30 percent of the cost.” “The challenge, therefore, is not to produce enough calories. It is making nutrient rich foods more affordable, and that's what will reduce the cost of this healthy diet,” the economist added. Torero also said, “between 70 and 75 percent of the cost of a healthy diet is generated after food leaves the farm. So it's not in the farm, it's after it leaves the farm. And the biggest bottlenecks are no longer only on the farm. They are in storage, in transport, processing, cost chains and wholesale markets.” He said, “our analysis shows that the investment in rural roads, cold storage, logistics and efficient value chains for fruits and vegetables generate much larger reduction in the cost of a healthy diet than broad and untargeted investments.” The report also challenges the conventional policy thinking, “our simulations show that subsidizing staple foods alone can actually increase the relative cost of a healthy diet. So increase rather than reduce.” FAO official said, “what we need to do is to focus in three priorities: reduce structural cost across the value chain, particularly after the farm gate; repurpose policies and investments towards nutrient dense foods, rather than reinforcing incentives that favor calories over nutrition and strengthen the evidence-based policymaking through better local data, closer coordination across agriculture, health, trade, and social protection.” He reiterated, “the cost of a healthy diet is not simply another statistic. It is a very important diagnostic that we need to resolve if we want to minimize this enormous amount of hidden costs and the enormous amounts of fatalities that come as a result of overweight and obesity.” Asked about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Torero said, “the major risk right now that we have in terms of commodities is the lack of sulfur is enormous right now. It's affecting all phosphates.” He added, “the situation will continue to be complex, inputs will continue to be high costs. Farmers will continue to face enormous challenges and the possibility that what we are lucky today that we had enough good harvest in the past. That's why the commodity prices are still not so high, with the exception of rice and durum wheat. That means that in the future that could change.”


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