UN report shows a clear relationship between the inability to afford a healthy diet and variables such as a country’s income level, the incidence of poverty, and the level of inequality.
A new United Nations report has found that 22.5 per cent of the Latin American and Caribbean population cannot afford a healthy diet.
In the Caribbean this figure reaches 52 per cent, in Central America 27.8 per cent, and in South America 18.4 per cent.
This represents an increase of 8 million compared to 2019 and is due to the higher average daily cost of healthy diets in Latin America and the Caribbean compared to the rest of the world’s regions.
The UN said food insecurity will continue to rise due to the food and fuel price crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine and the aftermath of COVID-19.
“We are talking about the region of the world with the most expensive healthy diet, which particularly affects vulnerable populations – small farmers, rural women, and indigenous and Afro-descendant populations – who allocate a greater percentage of their income to the purchase of food,” said Rossana Polastri from the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Between 2019 and 2021, the number of hungry people in the region increased by 13.2 million, reaching 56.5 million hungry people in 2021.
In 2021, 40.6 per cent of the regional population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, compared to 29.3 per cent worldwide.
Between 2019 and 2021, the number of hungry people in the region increased by 13.2 million, reaching 56.5 million hungry people in 2021.