As discussed earlier in this column, Brazil celebrated its exit from the Hunger Map in 2025. For the second time in its history, the country achieved an undernourishment rate of less than 2,5% of the population—an indicator monitored internationally by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) under the heading "prevalence of undernourishment" (PoU). This achievement is a rigorous statistical and social milestone, reflecting the effectiveness in monitoring food insecurity.
Beyond the exit from the map, it is essential to celebrate the drastic reduction, in just two years, in the number of households experiencing severe food insecurity (hunger), as detailed in Table 1.
Table 1: Food security situation at home (%)
Unfortunately, leaving the Hunger Map does not end the challenge of food security in the country. A problem persists. residual food insecurity This demands urgent attention: it affects millions of Brazilians who, although they have overcome acute calorie deficiency, still do not have access to a nutritionally adequate diet for a healthy life.
Leaving the Hunger Map means we have overcome extreme hunger, but we remain facing the challenge of affordable access to nutritious food. Diet quality is the vital link between food security and nutrition; its precariousness manifests itself in multiple forms of malnutrition, ranging from micronutrient deficiencies to the progression of overweight and obesity. A healthy diet, therefore, transcends calorie counting and requires a diversified intake of different food groups (FAO, 2023).
The ideal basic food basket
The FAO establishes guidelines to globally standardize the measurement of the cost and accessibility of healthy diets, based on the concept of the 'Healthy Diet Basket' (HDB).
This basket is composed of six fundamental groups: basic starchy foods (rich in starch), items of animal origin, legumes (such as nuts and seeds), vegetables, fruits, as well as oils and fats.
The cost of this diet considers not only a caloric metric (established at 2.330 kcal/day), but also the real price of accessing the cheapest items that make up a diverse and regionally representative diet. By guaranteeing, on average, 95% of nutritional needs, this value represents the minimum level for an individual to convert food into functional "capacities," according to Amartya Sen (2010). Thus, the healthy diet defined by official guidelines becomes the benchmark for what we call full food security. Table 2 exemplifies how this ideal food basket can be structured.
Table 2: Contents of the healthy diet basket by food group, in kilocalories (kcal) and grams of the reference food.
The cost of eating well: FAO data
The cost of this ideal basic food basket is calculated for all countries and updated annually. However, the specific costs of the six food groups that comprise it are calculated only when the World Bank's International Comparison Program (ICP) publishes updated data on individual item prices (WORLD BANK, 2026). The prices needed for a healthy diet use ICP data as annual national averages, with the most recent survey being from 2021. Because the definitions of the items are standardized internationally, it is possible to calculate the minimum costs to meet the dietary guidelines for each population, representing an average across markets and throughout the year.
(As an aside: the) Food Guide for the Brazilian PopulationThe National Guide to Nutritional Policies (CNSP), developed by the Ministry of Health and Nupens/USP (2006/2014), is a public document with accessible guidelines to promote health and prevent chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart problems. It is the cornerstone of nutritional policies in Brazil, guiding choices for the well-being of communities. In other words: we know what to eat, but can we afford it?
Returning to the costs, the estimate for this basket selects, for each food group, the item with the lowest price. Thus, the total value is given by weighting the quantities needed to meet the caloric value and their respective prices. Using purchasing power parity (PPP) metrics.[1] According to the World Bank, the FAO demonstrates that the cost of a 2.330 kcal/day diet with nutritional diversity remains a barrier for lower-income families.
Graph 1 illustrates the evolution of this cost (in PPP dollars) for an individual's daily food intake between 2017 and 2024. Firstly, a growing trend in global costs is noticeable, with the averages for Latin America and the Caribbean exceeding the global averages. This consistent increase is detailed in the FAO's State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI/2025) report, which points to food inflation since the end of 2020, peaking in January 2023, as one of the main determinants.
Food inflation was most severe in low-income countries between 2019 and 2024. Thus, although Brazil will exit the Hunger Map in 2026, it will do so in a global scenario still pressured by this inflationary peak. As inflation hit the poorest segments of the population harder, the cost of achieving a healthy diet became proportionally higher for those who need it most. With purchasing power eroded precisely during the post-pandemic recovery period, residual food insecurity has become a direct economic challenge.
Chart 1: Evolution of the daily cost of the ideal basic food basket, in PPP dollars (purchasing power parity)
The weight of each food group in the composition of the ideal basic food basket cost, presented here for informational purposes, is illustrated in Graph 2, based on the FAO survey of 2021. The color scale indicates the intensity of the cost: the darker the shade, the higher the price in PPP dollars.
It is noticeable that, both on a global average and in Latin America and the Caribbean (Latam), the greatest financial burden falls on the group of foods of animal origin, followed by vegetables and greens. The Brazilian case, however, presents a particularity: the highest cost is concentrated in the group of legumes, nuts, and seeds, followed by foods of animal origin. This makes beans and proteins – pillars of our food culture – the main items putting pressure on family budgets.
Figure 2: Breakdown of the cost of the ideal daily basic food basket for an individual, in PPP dollars.
Bringing these values to more recent prices, the cost of the ideal basic food basket in Brazil was estimated, in April 2025, by Pact Against HungerIn your Monthly Food Inflation Monitoring BulletinThe organization reports a monthly cost of R$ 432,00 per individual, in a scenario where the food and beverage group exerted the greatest weight on the broad consumer price index, the IPCA (PACT AGAINST HUNGER, 2025).
This is definitely a prohibitive cost when we consider that the average monthly income of an employed individual was approximately R$ 3.057,00 in 2024 — and, even more seriously, that 30% of the population lives on an average income of up to R$493,00 per month. (IBGE, 2024). This makes it clear that access to healthy food exceeds the income capacity of millions of families, especially those in situations of mild or moderate food insecurity. In the end, unhealthy options end up being more financially attractive.
Thus, while undernourishment falls to 2,4% (PoU), inflation in healthy foods pushes millions of people into the ranks of food insecurity, where quantity is maintained at the expense of quality. Although Brazil leads the recovery in Latin America and the Caribbean, the cost of food in the region remains among the highest in the world. This financial barrier forces the substitution of "real food" for ultra-processed foods – sometimes much cheaper – a transition captured by the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (Ebia) metric as mild insecurity, mainly affecting households with the greatest economic deprivation.
Food as a right
When analyzing the reduction in food insecurity, whether using the PoU or Ebia metrics, the progress achieved in such a short time is remarkable. Several coordinated actions made this historic result possible. However, these efforts represent only the beginning in the face of a still persistent challenge: the social cost of food insecurity, manifested mainly in the malnutrition-obesity binomial (SOFI, 2025).
It is crucial to reflect on how the policies that ensured Brazil's exit from the Hunger Map can be strengthened and transformed into instruments that now promote real access to a healthy diet. The focus should shift to the price of food, guaranteeing the right to a dignified, fulfilling life with quality nutrition. After all, food security will only be complete when the ideal basic food basket ceases to be a luxury.
This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Unicamp.
References
BRAZIL. Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger. Brazil reaches lowest level of food insecurity in history.Brasília, DF: MDS, 2024. (accessed on: March 25, 2026).
IPEA. Institute for Applied Economic Research. The cost of hunger. Challenges of Development, Brasília, DF, year 3, ed. 23, 2006. (accessed on: March 25, 2026).
FAO. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Methods Brief: FAOSTAT Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoAHD) indicatorsRome: FAO, 2023. (Accessed: March 25, 2026).
WORLD BANK. International Comparison Program (ICP)Washington, DC: World Bank, 2026. (accessed on: March 26, 2026).
FAO; IFAD; UNICEF; WFP; WHO. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025: Addressing high food price inflation for food security and nutritionRome: FAO, 2025. Available at: [insert direct link to PDF or landing page]. Accessed on: August 20, 2025.
Pact Against Hunger. Food Inflation Monitoring: April 2025. São Paulo: Pacto Contra a Fome, 2025. (accessed on: March 26, 2026).
IBGE. Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. TTable 7534: Permanent private dwellings, for food security and dwelling situation.Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 2024. (Accessed on: March 26, 2026).
SEN, Amartya. Development as Freedom. Translated by Laura Teixeira Motta. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2010.
[1] The PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) dollar is a theoretical exchange rate that equalizes the cost of a basket of goods and services between countries. It adjusts the value of currencies for the local cost of living, allowing for a comparison of real purchasing power and standard of living, unlike the commercial exchange rate (IPEA, 2006).
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