Kenya vs South Africa: Number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet
Kenya
43.50 million people
in 2024
South Africa
39.50 million people
in 2024
Kenya rank
13th
South Africa rank
14th
Number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet over time
- Kenya
- South Africa
How they compare
Kenya currently reports 43.50 million people against 39.50 million people in South Africa, a difference of 4.00 million people.
That makes Kenya's figure about 1.1 times South Africa's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 8 shared years of data; in 2017 it was South Africa ahead.
Kenya ranks 13th and South Africa ranks 14th of 150 countries.
Across the 2 decades both report, Kenya averaged higher in 1 and South Africa in 1.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Kenya | South Africa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 35.20 million people | 35.40 million people | 200,000 people | South Africa |
| 2020s | 41.92 million people | 38.32 million people | 3.60 million people | Kenya |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet, Kenya or South Africa?
- Kenya, at 43.50 million people against 39.50 million people in South Africa as of 2024.
- What is the difference in number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet between Kenya and South Africa?
- 4.00 million people, with Kenya ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Kenya and South Africa?
- 8 years are reported by both, from 2017 to 2024.
- How do Kenya and South Africa rank globally for number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet?
- Kenya ranks 13th and South Africa ranks 14th of 150 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- FAO and World Bank (2025), using data and methods from Bai et al. (2024) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Total number of people who cannot afford a healthy diet in a given country and year.