Eating healthily is becoming a luxury for 4.8 million Moroccans

Eating properly is becoming increasingly expensive for Moroccan households. The daily price of the least expensive food basket capable of meeting nutritional needs rose from 2.63 international dollars per person in 2017 to 3.64 dollars in 2025.

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This increase represents a rise of 38.4% in just eight years. It is highlighted in the 2026 report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world, jointly produced by the FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.

The indicator does not simply correspond to the average amount spent in shops. It measures the minimum cost required to purchase a sufficiently diverse combination of foods, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, starchy foods and animal products.

The basket had nevertheless declined slightly before the health crisis. Its cost fell to 2.47 dollars in 2019 and 2020. The trend then abruptly reversed: 2.76 dollars in 2021, 3.11 dollars in 2022, and then 3.45 dollars in 2023.

The increase continued in 2024 and 2025, although its pace slowed. Over five years, between 2020 and 2025, the minimum cost of a healthy diet thus rose by nearly 47%.

Still 4.8 million Moroccans affected

This surge does not mean that all Moroccans spend the equivalent of 3.64 dollars on food every day. The amounts are expressed in international dollars, a unit that takes into account differences in prices and purchasing power between countries.

They are mainly used to determine how many people have sufficient income to regularly buy the food necessary for a balanced diet.

In Morocco, 12.4% of the population still could not afford a healthy diet in 2025. This represents approximately 4.8 million people, or more than one in eight inhabitants.

The proportion has declined slightly since 2017, when it reached 13.7%. But in absolute numbers, no notable improvement can be seen: Morocco already had approximately 4.8 million people deprived of a healthy diet eight years earlier.

Population growth therefore absorbed the progress made in economic access to balanced food. A slightly smaller share of inhabitants is affected, but the total number of people facing this difficulty remains practically unchanged.

Morocco nevertheless maintains a lower cost than that observed in several North African countries. In 2025, the reference daily basket reached 5.22 dollars in Tunisia, 5.56 dollars in Algeria and 6.06 dollars in Egypt.

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This regional advantage is nevertheless not enough to make healthy food accessible to everyone. Even with a basket that is theoretically cheaper than those of its neighbors, millions of Moroccan households remain forced to reduce the diversity or quality of their diet because of insufficient income.