The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that the National Average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) per adult per day was N1,035 in April. This represents a 5.4% increase from the previous month.
The CoHD is the minimum cost of locally available food items that meet global dietary guidelines. It is used to measure physical and economic access to healthy diets, excluding transportation and meal preparation costs.
The NBS collected data on retail food prices, food composition, and healthy diet standards to compute the CoHD.
In April, the average CoHD was highest in the South-West at N1,406 per adult per day, followed by the South-East at N1,190 per day. The lowest average CoHD was recorded in the North-West at N781 per adult per day.
At the state level, Ekiti, Ogun, and Osun had the highest CoHD at N1,483, N1,447, and N1,417, respectively. Meanwhile, Kogi and Katsina had the lowest CoHD at N709, followed by Kaduna and Nasarawa at N756 and N769, respectively.
The report also revealed that the CoHD has been steadily increasing since October 2023. It was 40% higher in April 2024 than in October 2023 and 5% higher than in March 2024.
The cost of meeting the recommendations for vegetables, starchy staples, legumes, nuts, and seeds has driven the increases in CoHD the most. Animal-source foods were the most expensive food group, accounting for 36% of the total CoHD and providing 13% of the total calories.
In recent months, the CoHD has risen faster than general inflation and food inflation. The NBS highlighted that the policy implications of these results would involve collaboration among policymakers, researchers, and civil society actors to address food security challenges.
Additionally, future research incorporating income could be used to determine the proportion of the population unable to afford a healthy diet.
