NBS says cost of healthy diet N982 in March – 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has stated that the National Average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) per adult a day stood at N982 in March 2024.
In its CoHD report for March 2024 released on Tuesday in Abuja, the bureau said the CoHD in March increased by 4.7 per cent compared to the N938 recorded in February.
The CoHD is the least expensive combination of locally available items that meet globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines and used as a measure of physical and economic access to healthy diets.
The bureau said that to compute the CoHD indicator, data on Retail Food Prices, Food Composition Data, and Healthy Diet Standard were required.
The NBS also said that in March, the average CoHD was highest in the South-West at N1,198 per adult per day, followed by the South- East at N1,140 per day.
It said the lowest average CoHD was recorded in the North-West at N787 per adult per day.
The NBS further said that at the state level, Ekiti, Lagos, and Abia recorded the highest CoHD at N1330, N1249, and N1215.
The bureau said Katsina recorded the lowest CoHD at N739, followed by Sokoto and Zamfara at N758 and N766.
The NBS said CoHD had steadily increased since the first CoHD report by the bureau in October 2023.
According to the report, animal-source foods are the most expensive food group recommendation to meet in March, accounting to 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.
The report also said that in recent months, the CoHD had risen faster than general inflation and food inflation.
