The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 123.4 million Indonesians—equivalent to 43.5% of the population—will not be able to afford a healthy diet in 2024.
This number and percentage have decreased compared to 2017, when it reached 131.9 million people or 49.3%.
Although the figures declined in subsequent years, they saw a slight increase in 2020-2021, suspected to be a consequence of the drop in people's purchasing power due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reference price for a healthy diet from FAO in Indonesia is $4.75 based on purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2024. When converted, this value is estimated to be Rp28,971 or nearly Rp30,000 per person.
For information, PPP is a basic reference that compares the prices of a similar basket of goods and services across different countries.
In the FAO report, this indicator of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet is calculated in collaboration with the World Bank in each country. This indicator illustrates the economic capacity of the population to obtain food at the lowest possible cost, locally available, to meet healthy dietary needs according to Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs).
The indicator uses the global standard of the Healthy Diet Basket (HDB), applied to observed retail food prices and income distribution, to provide an operational measure of people's access to local food in the proportions needed to live an active and healthy life.
FAO calculates eight indicators of cost and affordability, including the cost of a healthy diet; the cost of the six food groups that make up the HDB (starchy staples; animal source foods; legumes, nuts, and seeds; vegetables; fruits; and oils and fats); and the percentage and number of people unable to afford a healthy diet.
The first two and the last indicators (cost and affordability of a healthy diet) are calculated and updated annually, while the cost of the six food groups that make up a healthy diet is only calculated in years when the World Bank's International Comparison Program (ICP) publishes updated item-level food price data.