Bangladesh has made significant strides in reducing chronic hunger over the past two decades, yet the escalating cost of a healthy diet remains a major barrier to nutritional security, according to the latest United Nations flagship report.
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026, jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO, reveals a complex landscape for the nation.
While the prevalence of undernourishment has nearly halved, the country now faces a widening affordability gap, with nutritious food costing significantly more than in neighbouring India or Pakistan.
Steady progress against chronic hunger
The UN report highlights that the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) in Bangladesh fell from 15.1 per cent in the 2004-06 period to 8.2 per cent in 2023-25. In absolute terms, the number of people facing chronic hunger has dropped to approximately 14.3 million, down from 21.9 million twenty years ago.
Improvements are also visible in broader food insecurity metrics. In 2023-25, 26.2 per cent of the population around 45.4 million people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity.
While this remains high, it reflects a gradual decline from 30.6 per cent a decade ago, suggesting that access to food is becoming more stable for millions of households.
Rising costs and regional comparisons
A primary focus of the UN 2026 report is the Cost of a Healthy Diet (CoHD), a benchmark for the minimum cost of purchasing a nutrient-adequate basket of locally available foods.
In Bangladesh, the daily cost of a healthy diet is projected to reach 4.59 PPP [purchasing power parity] dollars per person in 2025, a sharp increase from 3.09 PPP dollars in 2017.
This price tag is significantly higher than the Southern Asian regional average of 4.18 PPP dollars. When compared to its neighbours, Bangladesh’s diet cost is notably steeper than that of India (4.11 PPP dollars) and Pakistan (3.94 PPP dollars).
Despite these rising costs, the proportion of the population unable to afford a healthy diet in Bangladesh has improved, falling from 62.8 per cent in 2017 to a projected 38.6 per cent in 2025.
This suggests that household incomes have risen faster than food prices on average, yet approximately 67.8 million people remain priced out of the nutrition they need.
Mixed results in nutritional outcomes
The UN report paints a mixed picture of the nation’s health. Child stunting – a marker of long-term undernutrition – has seen a major decline, falling from 38.3 per cent in 2012 to 25.1 per cent in 2024. However, child wasting remains persistent at 10.7 per cent, more than double the 2030 global target of less than 5 per cent.
Dietary diversity for children in Bangladesh is relatively strong compared to the region. In 2024, 37.6 per cent of children aged 6 to 23 months achieved a minimum diverse diet, surpassing the Southern Asian average of 23.4 per cent.
Among women of reproductive age (15 to 49), 58.8 per cent achieved minimum dietary diversity, which is also higher than the regional average of 46.1 per cent.
The most concerning trend is the rise in anaemia among women, which has worsened from 34.5 per cent in 2012 to 37.6 per cent in 2023. This mirrors a global stagnation in maternal nutrition, where the report says that nearly all regions are seeing widening gaps between projected trends and the 2030 target of a 50 per cent reduction.
Strategic priorities for transformation
To address these challenges, UN agency heads, including FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu and UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, have called for agrifood system transformations that target context-specific drivers of high prices.
For the Asian region, the report identifies the strengthening of rural–urban linkages and increased investment in post-harvest handling as strategic priorities to bring down the cost of fruits and vegetables. Currently, post-farmgate activities account for 70 to 75 per cent of what consumers pay globally.
The report concludes that for Bangladesh to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, it must shift agricultural support away from staples towards nutrient-dense foods and invest in cold chains to reduce food loss.
As the UN warns, the cost of inaction is growing, with affordable healthy diets remaining the “necessary condition” for long-term human development.
