The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that the average Cost of Health Diet (COHD) was cheapest in the North West zone of the country in March this year.
The Bureau in its ‘Cost of Healthy Diet March 2024’ report published on Thursday, May 2, disclosed that the National average Cost of a Healthy Diet was N982 in March 2024, representing 4.7% higher than the N938 recorded in the preceding month.
According to the report, in the month under review, the average CoHD was highest in the South West zone at N1,198 per adult per day, compared to N787 per adult per day in North West.
The Cost of a Healthy Diet (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.
In recent months, the CoHD has risen faster than general inflation and food inflation.
However, the statistics agency clarified that CoHD and the food CPI were not directly comparable as the CoHD includes fewer items and is measured in Naira per day, while the food CPI is a weighted index.
