UN Says EU Subsidies Lifted Healthy Food Prices 36% From 2021 to 2025
Updated
Updated · POLITICO Europe · Jul 21
UN Says EU Subsidies Lifted Healthy Food Prices 36% From 2021 to 2025
3 articles · Updated · POLITICO Europe · Jul 21
Summary
A UN FAO report said the cost of a healthy diet in Europe rose 36% from 2021 to 2025, with fruit and vegetables becoming less affordable.
The agency linked that increase partly to EU farm subsidies that favor grains and the meat sector, making vegetables, fruits and legumes relatively more expensive to produce.
Broader food inflation also pushed prices higher, driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and likely spillovers from the Middle East crisis.
The Europe finding fits a wider global pattern: 2.69 billion people worldwide still cannot afford a healthy diet, according to the same annual UN food security report.
As global hunger declines, why are food policies creating a new health crisis costing billions?
Africa now has the most hungry people as foreign aid plummets. Who will fill the gap?
2024–2026 Global Food Security Crisis: Drivers, Regional Impacts, and Policy Solutions
Overview
Global food security between 2024 and 2026 is marked by a paradox: despite advances in food production and distribution, millions still face severe hunger, and some regions are seeing the crisis worsen. The World Food Programme warns that 2026 will bring 'unrelenting crises,' as persistent challenges and new threats erase earlier progress. Africa, for example, had reduced undernourishment to 15.9% in 2015, but this trend has reversed, with undernourishment rising again. These setbacks show how fragile gains can be, as external shocks and underlying vulnerabilities quickly push populations back into food insecurity.