If you want to eat a healthy breakfast as part of a balanced diet, how much would you spend? 

Data has shown that this really depends on where you are in the world. 

From a broader perspective, people in the Caribbean and Latin America pay more than in any other region of the world, with Asia following.  

And this is based on the most recent data tracked in 2024.

TL;DR

• The most expensive healthy diets in 2024 are found in South Sudan, where people pay an average of $8.39 per day.
• The cost of a healthy meal is the cheapest in the United Kingdom at an average of $2.56 per day.
• On average, the Caribbean and Latin America face the highest healthy-diet costs, while Europe and North America generally have the lowest.

The data in this explainer come from the Food System Dashboard, compiled from FAOSTAT. 

The values show the price per person (PPP) per day in U.S. dollars.

Top 30 Countries With The Highest Cost Of A Healthy Diet‌

The table below shows the top 30 countries where a “healthy diet” costs the most per person per day (in PPP-adjusted U.S. dollars).

One stark observation is that the top countries where healthy meals are most expensive are small or tourism-dependent economies.

This especially applies to islands and territories that rely heavily on food imports rather than domestic agriculture. 

Where Healthy Diet the Most Expensive

The highest cost of a healthy diet is found in countries like South Sudan, where a person needs about $8.39 per day to meet basic nutritional needs. 

The World Food Program (WFP) has calculated the cost of food as a proportion of income in a special index called “Counting the Beans”, with devastating implications.

The real price of a plate of bean stew is $321.70 in South Sudan, but just $1.20 in New York. (This is as of 2017)

It means that someone living in New York might spend just 0.6% of their daily income on the ingredients to make a simple bean stew, whereas someone in South Sudan would need to spend 155% of their daily income. 

Other countries with similarly high costs include Japan ($7.62) and Mongolia ($7.02), where factors such as high retail prices, climate constraints, and demand for animal-source foods drive up the daily cost of nutritious diets. 

Where a Healthy Diet is Cheap

Compared to countries with the highest cost of healthy diets, several nations record significantly lower daily costs. 

In 2024, the United Kingdom ($2.56), Qatar ($2.66), the United States ($2.79), and Belgium ($2.81) are among the ten countries where a nutritious diet costs the least per person per day. 

Many of these countries produce a large share of their own food or have robust import networks, allowing competitive prices for essential foods. 

For example, Switzerland ($3.07) and Denmark ($3.03) benefit from highly efficient agriculture and logistics systems. 

At the same time, countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar leverage wealth and infrastructure to maintain affordable access to nutritious foods despite challenging climates.

The Bigger Picture… 

Countries in Africa and parts of the Caribbean tend to have some of the highest costs, while Europe and North America generally feature the lowest. 

This means a lot for food security in African countries, especially given that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) lost three of its founding members on 29 January 2025. 

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger comprised 16% of the bloc’s population of 424 million and 7% of its economy. 

The Ecowas Democracy and Governance Protocol later imposed economic, financial and travel sanctions on each country after each coup.

Food was exempted from the sanctions. But the resulting increase in transport times and other logistical hurdles contributed to substantial levels of food price inflation in the region.

ELI5 

You spend more on average to eat a healthy meal in places like South Sudan, Japan, and Mongolia. 

By contrast, countries like the United Kingdom, Qatar, and the United States have much lower daily costs, making nutritious meals more accessible. 

Regionally, most high-cost countries are in the Caribbean, Latin America, and parts of Africa, while low-cost countries are mainly in Europe and North America. 

Sources: 

World Economic Forum | FAOSTATS | The Conversation |