A third of the world's population cannot afford a healthy diet

BarcelonaThe rising cost of living continues to wreak havoc on household economies and has a dramatic impact on the population's access to food. One in three people globally cannot afford to maintain a healthy diet after covering basic expenses such as housing or transportation. Specifically, 2,692 million people – 32.7% of the global population – are condemned to a deficient diet for economic reasons.

This is the main warning from the annual report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which was published this Tuesday. "For most people, the question is no longer whether there is food, but whether they can afford it," summarized the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development during the presentation in Rome.

The cost of maintaining a healthy diet has skyrocketed in recent years, mainly due to the impact of inflation on the shopping basket. While in 2017 it was estimated that a balanced diet cost $2.94 (2.58 euros) per person per day, by 2025 this figure had soared to $4.28 (3.75 euros). This represents an increase of almost 25% in just four years, a price hike that is 40% above the extreme poverty threshold (set at $3 per day).

"This is one of the major novelties," Pedro Javaloyes, spokesperson for Action Against Hunger, tells ARA, emphasizing that "if you cannot eat healthily, you cannot develop properly." This problem is not exclusive to impoverished countries. Up to 750 million people living in middle- or high-income countries also do not have enough money to afford a healthy diet. In Spain, 12% of households have difficulty accessing fresh produce, according to data from Action Against Hunger. "When you have an economic problem, you can do without buying clothes or a consumer item, but you shouldn't have to go without food," Javaloyes assures.

But why has the shopping basket become so expensive? The study analyzes the cost of the so-called Healthy Diet Basket – designed to provide 2,330 daily kilocalories based on principles of adequacy, balance, diversity, and moderation – and concludes that most of the price does not come from the producer. Up to 75% of the final cost paid by the consumer in the supermarket is due to processes after agricultural production, such as transport, processing, and logistics. Furthermore, there is a notable imbalance between nutritional and economic value: animal products, fruits, and vegetables account for almost 70% of the total diet cost, even though they do not provide the majority of calories.

Hunger, a matter of political will

Overall, the trend is positive. The total number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet has slightly decreased in recent years in all regions of the world except Africa. The report estimates that 7.8% of the world's population suffered from hunger in 2025 (645 million people), a figure lower than 8.1% in 2024, when it was 659 million. All this confirms a sustained improvement that shows it is possible to reduce hunger. "Ending hunger is a matter of political will," argues Javaloyes.

Africa is the region where the situation is most dramatic. It has surpassed Asia as the continent with the most people suffering from hunger (309 million compared to 292 million), and two out of every three people (66.6% of the population) do not have enough resources to have a healthy diet.

Faced with this scenario, the Director-General of the FAO has urged politicians to react to protect the most vulnerable people. "These figures are important because they show that hunger is not inevitable – defended QU Dongyu–. With solid economic policies, social protection, and sustained investments in more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient, and more sustainable agri-food systems, we can bend the hunger curve." To achieve this, the FAO advocates for the need to keep food and energy markets open and to facilitate farmers' access to fertilizers, seeds, water, and also credit.

Crisis in the Middle East

In parallel with the data, the authors of the report have called for us to prepare for future food shocks, such as the one we have experienced in recent months due to the conflict in the Middle East. The war in Iran – which has driven up the price of energy and fertilizers – has had such a great impact on food that the FAO has had to revise its forecasts: if it was predicted that 503 million people would still suffer from hunger in 2030, now this figure is between 510 and 520 million, depending on the duration of the inflationary crisis. This scenario, they point out, could be further aggravated if the effects of extreme weather phenomena are confirmed or if thethe cuts in humanitarian aid funding – driven by the United States–, whose budget has decreased by 36% since 2022.

Finally, the report details how armed conflicts are causing extreme hunger and destroying the right to food. It points out that in 2025 it was officially confirmed the famine situation in parts of the Gaza Strip and in Sudan, an unprecedented event since the IPC reporting system began to be used, and it also highlights that 100% of the analyzed population in Gaza suffered high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025. "The maximum degree of hunger declared in Gaza and Sudan is very unusual, it is declared once every 10 or 15 years," says the spokesperson for Action Against Hunger. Thus, the authors provide data demonstrating that current conflicts use food deprivation as a direct consequence of military operations and conclude that the deepening of humanitarian crises "threatens the right to adequate food in many places around the world".