UN Report: 50% of Population of Arab Region Can’t Afford Cost of Healthy Food

A United Nations ( UN) report revealed that more than half of the population of Arab countries, or 162.7 million people, could not afford the cost of adopting a healthy diet in 2020, as the cost of adopting a healthy diet has been increasing in the Arab region every year since 2017, as the cost in 2020 reached $3.47 per person per day.

The report, titled "Near East and North Africa - Regional Overview of the State of Food Security and Nutrition 2022: Trade as an Enabler of Food Security and Nutrition", was released today with participation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Food Program and FAO, WHO, UNICEF, and ESCWA, and it was reviewed at a press conference.

The report added that the Arab region still suffers from multiple forms of malnutrition although the prevalence rate of stunting in the region of 20.5%, which affects 1 out of every 5 children under the age of five, was lower than the global average, the report indicates that the prevalence of wasting in the region of 7.8% was higher than the global average of 6.7%, reaching 6.7%. The prevalence of overweight among children under the age of five is 10.7% in 2020.

The report says that the latest available estimates show that 28.8% of the adult population (18 years and over) in the Arab region suffers from obesity, and this percentage is more than double the global average.