1.2bn World Children Cannot Access Healthy Diet

1.2bn or half of the world children are unable to access healthy diet says, Save the Children.

Save the Children in a new data ahead of the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) summit in Paris says, 1.12 billion or 48% of the world’s children cannot afford a balanced diet.

It estimates that there are about 2.32bn children in the world.

The children’s inability to access healthy diet is due to hikes in food prices in combination with the increasing cost of living around the world.

Save the Children is calling on leaders attending the N4G Summit in Paris to strengthen the transition towards sustainable food systems.

The international body is urging leaders to promote equitable access to nutritious diets and strengthen health systems to make them resilient.

Leaders are to increase universal health coverage, strengthen social protection systems and leave no one behind.

They are enjoined to empower women by placing them at the heart of nutrition. 

According to Save the Children, the twin dangers is forcing millions of families to eat less adequate, less balanced and less diverse food, putting child development and wellbeing at risk.  

In analysing the cost of a healthy diet as defined by the World Health Organization, as adequate, Save the Children identifies this as balanced, moderate and diverse.

From 167 countries for which data was available SCI finds nearly half of the children are in families that cannot access the basics that exist in their communities. 

The situation is particularly bad for children in low- and lower-middle income countries, with more than two in every three children – 68% who cannot access a healthy diet. 

According to SCI, one of the greatest obstacles to giving children a healthy diet is the relatively high cost of nutritious foods.

The body notes that when income is limited, families tend to prioritize the frequency of feeding and fuller stomachs over the quality of foods for young children. 

According to Mayra Alejandra Obregon Ocoro, a  29 year old national Youth Coordinator for the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Movement (SUN CSN) from Colombia, and is attending the Paris summit. She said:  

 “The situation faced by nearly half of the world’s children who cannot afford a balanced diet is alarming and reflects a global food crisis that we cannot ignore. In Colombia, a country with deep social inequalities, many children and young people suffer from malnutrition and do not have access to adequate food. Poverty and rising food prices have led families to prioritize quantity over quality, resulting in diets high in carbohydrates and poor in essential nutrients. 

“It is critical that leaders attending the N4G summit commit to taking concrete and sustainable actions. I hope they will focus on implementing policies that reduce the cost of healthy food, promote local agriculture, and ensure equitable distribution of resources.” 

Another national Youth Coordinator. Sohanur Rahman, 28, from Bangladesh, said:  

“In my country Bangladesh, I have seen firsthand how rising food prices, economic inequality, and climate-induced disasters including extreme weather events like floods push families into food insecurity, forcing children to rely on cheap, nutrient-poor diets.   

 “At the N4G summit in Paris, leaders must commit to transformative policies that make nutritious food affordable and accessible for all. This includes strengthening social protection programs, supporting small-scale farmers, and investing in climate-resilient agriculture to safeguard food security against climate disasters.”  

Hannah Stephenson, Save the Children’s Global Nutrition Lead who is currently in Paris for the N4G Summit also notes,   

“The N4G summit is a critical opportunity for the international community to drive progress against malnutrition, putting nutrition at the center of a sustainable development agenda – which in a world where aid cuts are becoming the norm, is more crucial than ever.  

“Healthy diets play a critical role in the prevention of malnutrition, which can have life-long consequences for children. However, they can also be less affordable than unhealthy diets, with globally, nearly half of the world’s children unable to afford a balanced diet.  

“There is an urgent need for collective action to address malnutrition in all its forms—. The health and well-being of millions of children depend on our sustained efforts.” 

We call on leaders to commit to integrating nutrition outcomes into a wide range of sectors including environment and climate.

“By prioritizing evidence-based policies, increasing financial commitments, and fostering multi-sectoral collaboration, only then can we drive meaningful progress toward ending malnutrition” states SCI. 

The Nutrition 4 Growth (N4G) Paris Summit is taking place in Paris, France, from 27-28 March 2025.

It is a summit key stepping stone in 2025 towards galvanizing global and national nutrition actions to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.