The National Average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) per adult per day was N858 in January 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The NBS, on Saturday, said the CoHD is the least expensive combination of locally available items that meet globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines. It said it measures physical and economic access to healthy diets.

“This is a lower bound (or floor) of the cost per adult per day, excluding the cost of transportation and meal preparation,” NBS said.

The bureau said to compute the CoHD indicator, the data on retail food prices, food composition data, and healthy diet standards were required.

The report said in January 2024, the average CoHD was highest in the South-West at N1,045 per adult per day, followed by the South- East at N986 per day.

It said the lowest average CoHD was recorded in the North-West at N683 per adult daily.

The NBS said at the state level, Osun, Ekiti, and Ondo recorded the highest CoHD at N1,090, N1,087, and N1,063, respectively.

The report said Katsina and Niger recorded the lowest cost at N629, followed by Kano and Jigawa at N649 and N676, respectively.

The NBS said animal-source foods were the most expensive food group recommendation to meet in January 2024, accounting for 38 per cent of the total CoHD to provide 13 per cent of the total calories.

It said fruits and vegetables were the most expensive food groups in terms of price per calorie.

“They accounted for 12 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively, of the total CoHD while providing only seven per cent and five per cent of total calories in the Healthy Diet Basket.

“Legumes, nuts and seeds were the least-expensive food group on average, at six per cent of the total cost,” NbS stated.

The report said in recent months, the CoHD had risen faster than general inflation and food inflation.

“However, the CoHD and the food Consumer Price Index (CPI) are not directly comparable.

“The CoHD includes fewer items and is measured in Naira per day, while the food CPI is a weighted index,” the report said.

The CoHD report was unveiled on January 31, 2024, in Abuja and produced by the NBS in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Federal Ministries of Budget and Economic Planning, Health and Social Welfare, and Agriculture and Food Security.

(NAN)