Daily cost of a healthy diet in China

China: Daily cost of a healthy diet was 3.6 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day in 2024. ▲ Rising

Latest (2024)
3.6 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day
Change on year
up 2.0%
World rank
141st
of 174 countries
All-time high
3.6 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day
in 2024
All-time low
2.8 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day
in 2017
Years of data
8
2017–2024

Daily cost of a healthy diet in China, 2017–2024

012342017202020242017: 2.8 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day2018: 2.8 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day2019: 3 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day2020: 3.2 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day2021: 3.1 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day2022: 3.4 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day2023: 3.5 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day2024: 3.6 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day

Source: FAO and World Bank (2025), using data and methods from Herforth et al. (2022) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day.

Analysis

In 2024, daily cost of a healthy diet in China stood at 3.6 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day. That is the highest value across all 8 years on record.

That represents a change of up 2.0% on the previous year and up 28.6% over ten years.

That places China 141st out of 174 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the bottom quarter.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2010s 2.87 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day 2.8 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day 3 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day 3
2020s 3.38 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day 3.13 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day 3.6 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day 5

Countries ranked near China

  1. 138 Moldova 3.69 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day compare
  2. 139 Uganda 3.65 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day compare
  3. 140 Tajikistan 3.62 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day compare
  4. 142 Cote d'Ivoire 3.59 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day compare
  5. 143 Czechia 3.58 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day compare
  6. 144 Finland 3.57 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day compare

See the full ranking of 174 places →

More health data for China

All data for China →

Frequently asked questions

What is daily cost of a healthy diet in China?
Daily cost of a healthy diet in China was 3.6 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day in 2024, according to FAO and World Bank (2025), using data and methods from Herforth et al. (2022) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest daily cost of a healthy diet recorded in China?
The highest recorded value was 3.6 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day in 2024.
What is the lowest daily cost of a healthy diet recorded in China?
The lowest recorded value was 2.8 international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day in 2017.
How does China rank for daily cost of a healthy diet?
China ranks 141st out of 174 countries with data for 2024.
Is daily cost of a healthy diet rising or falling in China?
Over the last ten years it is up 28.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this China data come from?
The figures come from FAO and World Bank (2025), using data and methods from Herforth et al. (2022) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Daily cost of a healthy diet. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 8 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Daily cost of a healthy diet
Unit
international-$ in 2021 prices per person per day
Source
FAO and World Bank (2025), using data and methods from Herforth et al. (2022) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
174 places, 1,389 data points, 2017–2024
Last refreshed

Cost of purchasing the least expensive locally available foods to meet requirements for energy and food-based dietary guidelines, for a representative person within energy balance at 2,330 kcal/day. This data is adjusted for inflation and for differences in the cost of living between countries.