Pricele #87: A day's healthy diet in Indonesia 🇮🇩
The puzzle for 25 September 2026 asked what a day's healthy diet costs in Indonesia. Here is the answer and the context behind it.
The answer
A day's healthy diet · Indonesia
$1.57
25,800.17 IDR
About 43 minutes of the average local wage buys a day's healthy diet.
Cheaper than 81% of the 49 countries in the game.
Source: World Bank Food Prices for Nutrition, 2025 (converted at the World Bank official exchange rate).
About healthy diet
This is not a shopping basket anyone actually buys. It is the cheapest combination of foods on sale locally that would meet dietary guidelines, which makes it a floor rather than an average, and the number economists use to count how many people cannot reach it. Over two and a half billion people live in countries where a day of it costs more than they have to spend on food.
Where Indonesia sits
Of the 49 countries priced for healthy diet, Indonesia ranks #40 from the top at $1.57, 39% below the median of $2.57.
Indonesia is among the cheapest countries in the game for prepared food and fuel, both of which have long histories of state price management. Dairy is the outlier: little is produced domestically, so milk is imported and priced accordingly. VAT rose to 12% recently, with basic necessities exempt, which keeps the tax wedge off exactly the staples that dominate an Indonesian household budget. The interesting tension in the Indonesian row is between cheap prepared food and expensive imported dairy: two items from the same shop with completely different explanations behind their prices.
| Nearby on the healthy diet table | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malaysia | $1.48 | 6.32 MYR | 23 min |
| Saudi Arabia | $1.53 | 5.75 SAR | 8 min |
| Indonesia | $1.57 | 25,800.17 IDR | 43 min |
| Philippines | $1.60 | 92.07 PHP | 48 min |
| South Africa | $1.74 | 31.14 ZAR | 23 min |
What else costs what in Indonesia
| Item | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Mac | $2.52 | 42,500 IDR | 69 min |
| Coca-Cola (330ml can) | $0.63 | 10,000 IDR | 17 min |
| Cappuccino | $1.54 | 27,778 IDR | 42 min |
| Milk (1 litre) | $1.18 | 21,285 IDR | 32 min |
| Eggs (dozen) | $1.49 | 26,877 IDR | 41 min |
| Apples (1 kg) | $2.50 | 45,095 IDR | 68 min |
| Gasoline (1 litre) | $0.74 | 13,348 IDR | 20 min |
| Diesel (1 litre) | $1.23 | 21,910 IDR | 34 min |
| Electricity (100 kWh) | $8.10 | 144,470 IDR | 3.7 h |
| Cigarettes (20-pack) | $2.45 | 40,000 IDR | 67 min |
| Beer (330ml) | $1.84 | 30,000 IDR | 50 min |
| Spirits (750ml bottle) | $13.13 | 214,285.71 IDR | 6.0 h |
| Mobile data (1 GB) | $0.28 | — | 8 min |
Go deeper
See the full table for healthy diet in every country or everything priced in Indonesia.