Food Prices for Nutrition (FPN) provides indicators on the cost and affordability of a healthy diet (CoAHD) across countries. These indicators measure the extent to which populations have physical and economic access to sufficient quantities of locally available foods needed for an active and healthy life. The database also includes indicators on the cost and affordability of an energy-sufficient diet and a nutrient-adequate diet. Detailed documentation is available through the Food Prices for Nutrition DataHub: https://www.worldbank.org/foodpricesfornutrition.
Food Prices for Nutrition 4.0 (released in July 2025) uses 2021 global retail food price data from the International Comparison Program (ICP) and 2021 purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factors to estimate diet-cost indicators. For non-ICP benchmark years, diet costs are estimated using food and general consumer price index (CPI) data from FAOSTAT. Relative to version 3.1, version 4.0 incorporates updated income distribution data from the World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP), including revised estimates for India and other countries. For the first time, the database reports cost and affordability indicators through the year preceding the reporting year and provides diet-cost estimates in both PPP dollars and local currency units. Version 4.0 also revises the methodology used to convert current-year PPP values to constant-year PPP values by using national CPIs rather than U.S. inflation rates. Estimates of the prevalence and number of people unable to afford a healthy diet are imputed for countries with missing data based on regional and global aggregates. Country income classifications used for aggregate reporting follow the 2023 calendar-year classification standard, corresponding to World Bank fiscal year 2025. The CoAHD indicators reported in the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025 are based on version 4.0.
Food Prices for Nutrition 4.1 builds on version 4.0 by introducing two contextual indicators from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI) database: GDP per capita, PPP (current international dollars), and GNI per capita, PPP (current international dollars). These indicators support comparisons between diet-cost and affordability measures and countries' income levels.
Food Prices for Nutrition 5.0 (released in July 2026) updates affordability indicators using the latest World Bank international poverty lines expressed in 2021 PPPs. It also reports both simple and population-weighted averages at aggregate levels. Owing to unresolved PPP assumptions for Argentina, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan, and Thailand, version 5.0 does not report diet-cost indicators expressed in PPP terms, nor the prevalence and number of people unable to afford a healthy diet, for these countries. Diet-cost indicators expressed in local currency units remain available. Country income classifications used for aggregate reporting follow calendar year 2024 data, corresponding to World Bank fiscal year 2026.