The cost of healthy diet in the nation’s urban centres was highest in Ekiti, Ogun and Osun states in June 2024, according to the latest data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The NBS’ Cost of Healthy Diet showed that it cost on average N1,688 per person per day in Ekiti State; N1621 in Ogun State, and N1,588 in Osun State in June 2024. Other states are Delta, N1523, and Lagos, N1480, thus completing the list of the five states with highest daily cost of healthy diet.
According to the NBS, the Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) is the least expensive combination of locally available items that meets globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines. It is used as a measure of physical and economic access to healthy diets. This is a lower bound (or floor) of the cost per adult per day excluding the cost of transportation and meal preparation.
“The national average Cost of a Healthy Diet was N1,241 in June 2024. This is 19.2% higher than the amount recorded in the previous month (May 2024, was N1,041). In June 2024, the average CoHD was highest in the South West at N1,545 per adult per day, compared to N956 per adult per day in the North West,” NBS stated.
“A healthy diet is considered unaffordable when the diet cost exceeds the income available for food, defined as the per capita per day total income or expenditure minus the non-food expenditure of people living near the poverty thresholds as defined by the international poverty lines,” World Bank stated.
Other states with high cost of healthy diet include Oyo, N1475; Rivers, N1468; FCT, N1462, Ondo, N1443, and Akwa Ibom, N1441.
The rural south west also recorded the highest cost of healthy diet in June 2024. Ondo State recorded the highest cost per person per day at N1633, and was followed by Lagos State at N1603. In these states, feeding was more expensive in rural Ondo and Lagos than in the urban centres.
Other states with high cost of healthy diet in June include Ekiti, N1592; Ogun, N1576; Osun, N1525; and Kwara, N1501.
Katsina urban centres recorded the least cost of healthy diet in June, at N885 per person per day. The state was followed by Kano, N926; Sokoto, N969; Jigawa, N981, and Kaduna, N997.
Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Zamfara, and Kebbi recorded the least cost of healthy diet in the rural areas in June 2024.
Based on the foregoing, the south west geopolitical zone recorded the highest cost of healthy diet in June 2024. The south-south ranked in the second position at N1376; south-east, N1320; north central, N1184; north east, N1135, and north west, N956.
“The effects of inflation in consumer food prices stemming from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures put in place to contain it, have increased the costs and the unaffordability of a healthy diet around the world,” FAO stated.
FAO further added that the diet quality is a critical link between food security and nutrition. Poor diet quality can lead to different forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity.
