Monthly basket costs for healthy and sustainable diets in Italian provinces: A seasonal dataset by demographic profile (2021–2024)

This dataset provides seasonally estimated monthly costs of healthy and sustainable diets for five demographic profiles: infants, adolescents, adult women, adult men, and the elderly. The estimates cover all Italian provinces across 12 seasonal periods from 2021 to 2024. Food baskets are based on nationally recommended nutritional guidelines that are specific to age, gender, and season. They include 167 food items, ranging from fresh produce to processed foods. Costs are calculated by matching these dietary requirements with official provincial-level food price data from the Osservatorio Prezzi e Tariffe. Missing prices in provinces not covered by the survey are imputed using a spatial model that accounts for neighboring prices, local income levels, and seasonal variation. For each basket, the dataset reports minimum, average, and maximum monthly costs, depending on the variation in item-level prices. This dataset allows for spatial and temporal analysis of the affordability of healthy diets and supports applications in public health, food policy, and targeted support for vulnerable populations across Italian provinces.