Islamabad: Pakistani families are spending less on food year after year not because it has become affordable, but because electricity, gas and housing costs are taking an ever larger share of household incomes, forcing people to compromise on nutrition to pay basic utility bills, an analysis by Gallup Pakistan said on Tuesday.
The analysis, based on a two-decade comparison of household consumption patterns, shows a clear shift in family spending. Between 2005 and 2025, the share of household budgets spent on food fell from 43 percent to 37 percent, while spending on housing and utilities rose sharply from 15 percent to 25 percent, making electricity, gas and rent the biggest financial burden for most households, Gallup said.
Economists say the decline in food’s share does not reflect improved living standards. With real incomes under pressure, households appear to be eating less or cutting back on food quality to cope with rising fixed costs. Food remains one of the few flexible items in a household budget, and when electricity and gas prices rise, food consumption is often the first area to be reduced. This has serious implications for nutrition, particularly for women and children.
Gallup’s findings show that the sharp rise in housing and utility spending is driven by higher electricity and gas tariffs, rising rents and other charges that households cannot avoid. Unlike discretionary expenses, these costs must be paid every month, leaving families with little choice but to adjust by cutting back elsewhere.
Other areas of spending show limited change over the same period. Transport spending rose modestly from 5 percent to 7 percent, reflecting fuel costs and commuting needs. Communication spending increased from 1 percent to 2 percent as mobile phones and internet access became essential. In contrast, spending on education and health remained almost unchanged at around 3 percent each, suggesting that rising living costs are crowding out investment in human capital.
According to Gallup, this pattern points to a deeper structural squeeze on household welfare. Families are not spending more overall but are reshuffling limited incomes to survive. As electricity, gas and housing absorb a growing share of income, flexible essentials such as food and miscellaneous spending are being sacrificed.
From a nutrition and public health perspective, the trend is worrying. Lower food spending often means fewer meals, smaller portions or a shift away from protein-rich and nutrient-dense foods toward cheaper alternatives. Over time, this can worsen malnutrition and hidden hunger, even if official inflation figures suggest some relief.
The broader economic signal is also clear. When energy and housing dominate household budgets, there is little room left for spending that supports long-term productivity, such as education, health and skills development, undermining welfare today and growth prospects tomorrow.
Gallup says the data underline a hard reality: Pakistanis are not eating less because life has become cheaper. They are doing so because electricity, gas and housing costs now come first, turning food into the adjustment margin for millions of households.
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