In India, 74% can’t afford a healthy diet: UN agency report

Source: The post is based on the article “In India, 74% can’t afford a healthy diet: UN agency report”  published in The Hindu on 31st August 2023

What is the News?

The ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ (SOFI) 2023 report has been released with the theme “Urbanization, agrifood systems transformation, and healthy diets across the rural-urban continuum”.

What is the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World(SOFI) Report?

SOFI is an annual flagship report jointly prepared by: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

Aim: To inform on progress towards ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and to provide an in-depth analysis of key challenges for achieving this goal in the context of the SDG.

What are the key findings of the SOFI 2023 related to India?

Source: The Hindu

Healthy diet: India has the lowest cost of a healthy diet among BRICS nations and neighboring countries.However, a significant portion of the population can’t afford it due to stagnant or decreasing incomes. 

– For instance, meal costs in Mumbai increased by 65% in five years, while salaries/wages only grew by 28%-37%. 

Healthy diet in terms of Purchasing Power Parity(PPP): 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 simple terms, 1 PPP dollar in the United States should buy the same amount of goods and services as 1 PPP dollar in, say, India or Brazil. 

Share of the population that is unable to afford a healthy diet in 2021: In India, 74% were not able to afford a healthy diet, the fourth highest share among the nations considered. 

Change in the cost of a healthy diet over the years across regions: Between 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) and 2021, the expense of maintaining a healthy diet increased by almost 9% in Asia — the highest across regions.

Change in the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet over time across regions: Between 2019 and 2021, Asia and Africa saw the highest growth in the number of people who could not afford a healthy diet. 

– 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.