Global poverty and the cost of a healthy diet

Globally, two billion people globally suffer from moderate to severe food insecurity and widespread micronutrient deficiencies. This contrasts with 654 million people who are classified as extremely poor according to the World Bank’s 2.15 US dollar per day International Poverty Line (IPL). Current poverty measures overlook a crucial aspect of human well-being: adequate nutrition. In collaboration with Misereor, a research team from the University of Göttingen/Germany has developed a new way of assessing poverty that incorporates the affordability of healthy diets in addition to other basic needs. According to these metrics, throughout the world, between 2.3 and 2.9 billion people were living in poverty in 2022. The study is published in the journal Food Policy.

The researchers combined specific data from individual countries about the cost of a basic healthy diet – based on dietary guidelines – with consumption data from 145 countries to assess global poverty. Their study also highlights significant regional differences. While according to the World Bank, two-thirds of the world’s poor reside in sub-Saharan Africa, the proposed way to assess poverty indicates that over one third are in South Asia, with sub-Saharan Africa following close behind. Moreover, according to traditional metrics, regions elsewhere account for only 7 per cent of global poverty, but between 29 per cent and 35 per cent when assessed using this new approach – with East Asia and the Pacific alone representing 10 to 19 per cent of the world’s poor.

Lack of financial means to afford sufficiently nutritious foods

“There are billions of people who are not classified as extremely poor by current standards, yet they cannot afford food for adequate nutrition and other basic needs, overlooking the long-term health consequences of malnutrition,” explains Jonas Stehl, PhD Researcher at Göttingen University’s Development Economics Research Group and first author of the study. “To achieve better targeting of resources, the World Bank should reconsider their approach to measure poverty.”

(University of Göttingen/wi)
 
Original publication: Stehl, J., Depenbusch, L., Vollmer, S.: “Global poverty and the cost of a healthy diet”, Food Policy 2025. DoI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2025.102849