NBS: Cost of healthy meal per adult rose to N786 in December 2023

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the national average cost of a healthy diet (CoHD) in Nigeria was N786 per adult per day in December 2023.

This represents N44 or a 5.9 percent increase from the N742 recorded in November last year.

In Nigeria, CoHD is the minimum cost of food needed to meet international recommendations defined in the healthy diet basket (HDB), a globally relevant set of criteria that captures similarities across most national food-based dietary guidelines.

The HDB consist of food groups like Starchy staples, Oils and fats, fruits, vegetables, legumes nuts and seeds and animal-source foods.

According to the bureau report, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states recorded the highest cost of a healthy diet per adult per day.

“The National average Cost of a Healthy Diet was N786 per adult per day in December 2023,” NBS said.

“At the State level, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo States recorded the highest cost with N1052, N1017, and N986, respectively, while the lowest total diet costs were recorded in Katsina, Niger and Adamawa at N594, N635, and N654, respectively.”

At the zonal level, the average CoHD was highest in the south-west zone at N979 per day, followed by the south-east zone with N920 per day.

The lowest average cost of a healthy diet by region was recorded in the north-west zone with N663 per day.

NBS said the most expensive food group in the diet was animal-source foods (meat, eggs, and dairy), gulping 38 percent of the budget — however, they only contributed 13 percent of the total calories consumed.

Fruits and vegetables were the most expensive food groups in terms of price per calorie; they accounted for 12 percent and 14 percent, respectively, of total CoHD while providing only 7 percent and 5 percent of total calories in the healthy diet basket.

The least-expensive food group on average was legumes, nuts, and seeds, at 6 percent of the total cost.

Meanwhile, the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 28.92 percent in December 2023 — up from 28.20 percent in the previous month.

The food inflation rate in December 2023 was 33.93 percent — 10.18 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022 (23.75 percent).