Data Insights
Bite-sized insights on how the world is changing, published every few days.
Food PricesMay 02, 2025
People in richer countries spend more on food, but it’s a smaller share of their overall spending
Three billion people worldwide cannot afford a healthy diet that gives them all the nutrients they need.
Most of these people live in low- to middle-income countries, where people have less money to spend on food. You might rightly guess that people in richer countries tend to spend more on food — but they also spend a smaller share of overall spending on food. You can see this in the chart, where each dot represents one country in 2022.
The average budget in Switzerland for food consumed at home was more than four times that of Kenya (when measured in US dollars). But food made up less than 10% of Swiss consumer spending, compared to almost 60% in Kenya.
This means people in richer countries don’t only have more money to spend on food; they also have far more left to spend on other important resources, like housing, education, clothing, and health.
Read more in my article “Engel's Law: Richer people spend more money on food, but it makes up a smaller share of their income” →
October 16, 2024
Healthy diets remain unaffordable for the majority in many countries
Around one in three people worldwide — that’s 2.8 billion — could not afford a healthy diet in 2022. This is based on the most recent estimates from the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
A “healthy diet” is defined as one that follows nutritional guidelines, making sure that someone has enough variety to meet all of their dietary needs. It is considered unaffordable when the lowest possible cost of the diet, along with essentials like housing and transportation, is higher than what someone earns each day.
In low- to middle-income countries like India or Pakistan and much of Sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of the population struggles to afford a healthy diet, with rates exceeding 90% in the poorest.
October 14, 2024
On average, Americans spend about the same amount of money on restaurants and cafes as on food at home
On average, Americans spend about the same amount on food consumed at home as they did in the 1950s. But they spend a lot more in restaurants, cafes, and at work.
The chart shows the average amount of money spent on food, at home and away from home in the United States. This is based on data from the USDA Economic Research Service. It’s adjusted for inflation over time.
Today, the amount spent on food away from home is about the same as what is spent on food at home.
Explore data on food expenditure across the world →