Cost of healthy diet stood at N1,255 in August – NBS

The National Average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) per adult a day stood at N1,255 in August 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The NBS revealed this in its CoHD report for August 2024 released on Thursday in Abuja.

The bureau said that the CoHD in August decreased by 0.8 per cent compared to the N1,265 recorded in July.

The NBS said the CoHD was the least expensive combination of locally available items that met globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines.

It said it was 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 bureau said that to compute the CoHD indicator, the following data on Retail Food Prices, Food Composition Data, and Healthy Diet Standard were required.

The NBS also said that in August, the average CoHD was highest in the South-West at N1,554 per adult per day, followed by the South-South at N1,381 per day.

It said the lowest average CoHD was recorded in the North-West at N1,014 per adult per day.

The NBS further said that at the state level Ogun, Lagos and Rivers recorded the highest CoHD at N1,641, N1,615, and N1,572, respectively.

The bureau said Katsina recorded the lowest CoHD at N880, followed by Kaduna at N951, and Sokoto at N980.

The NBS said CoHD had steadily increased over the past six months, since March 2024.

“The CoHD in August 2024 is 28 per cent higher than what was recorded in March 2024 at N982.

“The food groups that have driven the increases in CoHD are legumes, nuts and seeds, starchy staples, and vegetables.

“On a month-month basis, CoHD declined by 0.8 per cent compared to the cost in July 2024 at N1,265 and vegetables saw a decline in price by 14.5 per cent on monthly basis.”

The report added that animal-source foods were the most expensive food group recommendation to meet in August accounting for 37 per cent of the total CoHD to provide 13 per cent of the total calories.

It noted that fruits and vegetables were the most expensive food groups in terms of price per calorie.

“They accounted for 11 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, of the total CoHD while providing only seven per cent and five per cent of total calories in the Healthy Diet Basket.

“Legumes, nuts and seeds were the least-expensive food group on average, at seven per cent of the total cost.’’

The report also said that in recent months, the CoHD had risen faster than general inflation and food inflation.

“However, the CoHD and the food Consumer Price Index (CPI) are not directly comparable.

“The CoHD includes fewer items and is measured in Naira per day, while the food CPI is a weighted index,” NBS said.