Healthy diet too expensive for one in three people globally, UN report finds
Global hunger declined for the third year in a row in 2025 but experts call for action to bring down costs of fruit, vegetables and dairy as report shows 2.69bn people can’t afford to eat well One in three people cannot afford to eat a healthy diet, a new...
A new United Nations report says the cost of eating well remains out of reach for billions of people, even as global hunger has fallen for the third year in a row.
The annual assessment, produced by five UN agencies, found that 2.69 billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet. The figure has renewed pressure on governments and international institutions to take action on the price of nutritious foods, especially fruit, vegetables and dairy.
According to the report, progress has been made on hunger overall in 2025, but experts warned that the scale of the remaining challenge is still enormous. The agencies said meeting the global goal of ending hunger by 2030 will require “immense” effort, particularly if food affordability does not improve.
The report highlights a central problem in global nutrition policy: a diet can be theoretically available while still being financially inaccessible for a large share of the population. That gap leaves many people unable to meet basic energy and nutrient needs through a varied diet.
The findings have sharpened calls for policies that bring down the cost of healthier foods and make nutritious diets more affordable for low-income households. The report points to the continuing tension between gains in hunger reduction and the persistent economic barriers that keep healthy eating out of reach.
This article is based on a monitored public feed and summarizes details reported by The Guardian World. Source attribution appears below.
Source: The Guardian World - https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jul/21/healthy-diet-too-expensive-for-one-in-three-people-globally-un-report-finds
