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Fewer people in Africa consider the food they are eating is nutritious, new research suggested, pointing to the impact of rising living costs and food insecurity across the continent.
The share of respondents from North Africa who reported the food they ate was healthy in a given week fell from 75% in 2022 to 54% in 2023, global research by the Gallup-Ando Foundation found, the largest decline of all 11 regions surveyed. Perceptions of healthy eating in sub-Saharan Africa also dropped from 67% in 2022 to 60% in 2023.
By contrast, 84% of those surveyed in northern, southern, and western Europe said they were eating healthily and 72% in North America.
The findings coincided with double digit inflation in several African countries in 2023, driven by the supply chain shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, a separate study, found that one in five Africans reported facing hunger in 2023 — the largest share of people in the world.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, food insecurity was the biggest barrier to food satisfaction,” said Andrew Dugan, a researcher on the Ando Foundation/Nissin Food Products study. The report argues that food experiences are a factor in human well-being and, as such, declining levels of satisfaction could point to broader anxieties in societies.
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People’s perceptions of food enjoyment and healthy eating dropped globally in 2023.
North Africa and the sub-Saharan region were also distinct for being the only other parts of the world where less than half of the population said they had “a lot of choices” in the food they ate. Access to a diverse diet is considered by the report’s authors as an important measure for overall wellbeing as it potentially increases the chances of healthy eating and food enjoyment.
The report identified a correlation between food choice and income levels. “People in high‑income economies are more than twice as likely to report having many choices in the types of food they ate than respondents in low-income areas,” it said.