🌎 Global Diet Atlas
What 200 countries eat, how diets have changed since 1961, and the nutrition transition unfolding worldwide. Based on FAO Food Balance Sheets.
Understanding the Global Food Supply Atlas
Every country feeds its people differently. Geography, climate, wealth, culture, trade policy, and agricultural history all shape what ends up on the plate. The Global Food Supply Atlas maps these differences using data from the FAO Food Balance Sheets — the most comprehensive record of national food systems ever assembled. Updated annually by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, these sheets track how much food is produced, imported, exported, wasted, and ultimately available for human consumption in each country.
The numbers you see here represent per-capita food supply, not actual intake. Food supply data measures what reaches the consumer level, which is typically 20–30% higher than what people actually eat because it includes household waste, spoilage, and food fed to pets. Despite this limitation, supply data is the only metric available consistently across all countries and decades, making it invaluable for cross-country comparisons and tracking long-term trends.
The atlas covers over 60 years of dietary change, beginning in 1961 when the FAO first standardised its reporting. During this period, global calorie supply per person increased by more than 30%, protein supply rose substantially, and fat supply nearly doubled. But these global averages mask enormous variation: some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa still supply fewer than 2,000 kcal per person per day, while several Middle Eastern and North American countries exceed 3,700 kcal.
Beyond calories, the atlas also estimates nutrient adequacy for six essential micronutrients — calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin C, and folate. These estimates use food composition tables to convert commodity-level supply data into approximate nutrient availability. While less precise than dietary surveys, they reveal striking patterns: many countries that supply adequate calories still fall short on critical micronutrients, a phenomenon known as hidden hunger. Use the metric selector and year slider below to explore how both total food supply and micronutrient adequacy have evolved around the world.
World Food Supply Map
Daily food supply per person by country. Drag the year slider to watch the nutrition transition unfold from 1961 to 2023.
Global Food Supply Over Time
Average daily food supply per person, worldwide. The "nutrition transition" — from calorie scarcity to sufficiency — has been one of the great achievements of the last 60 years.
Explore by Country
Compare Country Trends
Select up to 5 countries to compare their calorie supply over time.
All Countries at a Glance
200 countries ranked by daily calorie supply per person. Green = above world average, Orange = below.
Browse All Countries A–Z
All 200 countries with dietary data from FAO Food Balance Sheets.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Food Balance Sheet?
A Food Balance Sheet (FBS) presents a comprehensive picture of the pattern of a country's food supply during a specified reference period. It shows the sources of supply (production, imports, stock changes) and its utilization (exports, feed, seed, processing, waste, food). The food supply per capita is then derived by dividing the total food available for human consumption by the population.
What do kcal/capita/day mean?
This measures the average daily dietary energy supply available per person in a country. It includes all food commodities (plant and animal). Note: this measures availability, not actual consumption — some food is wasted at the household level, so actual intake is typically 20–30% lower.
Why do some countries have very high calorie values?
Countries like the United States, Austria, and Belgium show 3,500+ kcal/capita/day. This reflects the total food supply, including waste. Actual consumption is lower. High-income countries tend to have more food waste, inflating the supply figures.
What is the "nutrition transition"?
The nutrition transition describes the shift in dietary patterns that accompanies economic development: from traditional diets high in cereals and plant foods to "Western" diets high in fats, sugar, and animal products. This transition is associated with rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Country Diet Comparisons
Side-by-side food supply breakdowns between pairs of countries.
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