Cost of eating healthy diet drops by 0.8% — NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Thursday that the average cost of a healthy diet in August 2024 decreased by 0.8 per cent to N1,255 from the July figure of N1,265.

In August 2024, the average Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD) was highest in the South-West at N1,554 per adult per day, compared to N1.014 per adult per day in North-West.

In recent months, the CoHD had risen faster than general inflation and food inflation.

However, the CoHD and the food 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 CoHD is the least expensive combination of locally available items that meets globally consistent food-based dietary guidelines.

It is used as a measure of 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.