New York/Rome — The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has assumed joint custodianship with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) of a new Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator regarding Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD). This indicator captures a crucial aspect previously lacking in tracking progress toward ending malnutrition and achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and the broader 2030 Agenda.

The new indicator was formally adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its 56th session in New York.

The inclusion of the MDD as a new SDG indicator is one of a handful of substantial changes approved by the Commission as part of the 2025 Comprehensive Review of the SDG indicator framework – the second and last Comprehensive Review within the 2030 Agenda’s time horizon. 

It marks the final chapter in a long process that began over one year ago by a coalition of countries and international organizations led by Switzerland and spearheaded by FAO and UNICEF, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The importance of MDD

Diversity – or the variety of foods we consume – is one of the pillars of a healthy diet. The quality of a diet is essential to prevent all forms of malnutrition and support health, growth, development, and well-being.  The new MDD indicator has been methodologically validated and will be measured for two population groups: children and women of reproductive age, designated “MDD-C” and “MDD-W,” respectively. UNICEF will assume the role of custodian agency for MDD-C and FAO for MDD-W. MDD-W, developed by FAO and its partners, is a simple yes/no indicator of whether women aged 15 to 49 have consumed at least five out of 10 defined food groups in the previous 24 hours.

The 10 food groups are defined as: grains, white roots and tubers, and plantains; pulses (beans, peas and lentils); nuts and seeds; milk and milk products; meat, poultry and fish; eggs; dark green leafy vegetables; other vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables; other vegetables; and other fruits.

The higher the proportion of women in the sample who reach this threshold, the higher the chance that women in the population consume diets that have sufficient vitamins and minerals. A similar process of development was led by UNICEF for MDD-C.

FAO and UNICEF, in collaboration with WHO and other partners, have long led data collection efforts on food security and nutrition, underscoring the need for validating and harmonizing measurement methods. This includes food insecurity as part of SDG2 monitoring, led by FAO, and tracking progress towards the World Health Assembly targets such as child stunting, wasting, anemia and overweight, led by UNICEF and WHO. The inclusion of MDD represents the first time that a measure of the quality of diets will be added to this critical information. 

“The absence of an SDG indicator on healthy diets neglected the pivotal role that diets play in achieving the 2030 Agenda, even though unhealthy dietary patterns are known to be the primary driver of poor health outcomes and non-communicable diseases globally. Now, countries and the international community have a new tool at their disposal for formulating evidence-based strategies for enhancing nutrition and health outcomes through diet-related interventions, and therefore achieving SDG 2,” said José Rosero Moncayo, FAO’s Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistics Division.

Lynnette Neufeld, Director of the Food and Nutrition Division at FAO, said: “Measuring the quality of diets is not straightforward. To assess the quality of the diet, we would ideally like to know whether diets are adequate in all nutrients, balanced in energy intake, diverse in foods consumed, and moderate in the consumption of unhealthy foods.  Doing so with comparability across contexts with indicators that are easy to measure is complex. Today, we celebrate enormous progress in this regard, with the recognition of dietary diversity as a critical missing link tracking progress towards SDG2.” 

The MDD-W indicator can be used to assess dietary diversity at the population level, evaluate the impact of programs, inform policies, and set targets. MDD focuses on women and children, two groups that are most at risk of various forms of malnutrition.

A critical step forward

Global and regional trends will be analyzed in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 2025 report, due to be published in June, as well as FAO’s assessment “Tracking progress on food and agriculture-related SDG indicators 2025,” due to be published in September. Country-level estimates are expected to be released in the second half of the year.

According to the latest The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, over 2.8 billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2022, while new estimates of adult obesity show a steady increase over the last decade, from 12.1 percent in 2012 to 15.8 percent in 2022. According to the latest projections, the world will have more than 1.2 billion obese adults by 2030.

These statistics are critical. However, to design effective actions, evaluate results, and track progress over time, we must understand what individuals who are vulnerable to malnutrition actually eat—not just what is available in the market. The new indicator represents a critical step forward in this journey.