Per Capita Food Expenditures Declining Around the World

Abundant and relatively inexpensive food has contributed significantly to the high standard of living in the United States. Lower food costs enable Americans to spend less income on food and more on other goods and services or to save more. In 1989, Americans used a little under 10 percent of their total personal consumption expenditures (PCE) on food at home—the lowest share in the world. "Food's share of total personal consumption expenditures" is the value of food purchased by consumers for at-home consumption relative to the value of all purchases for personal consumption. This expenditure series is based on ERS data and national accounts data, which are provided by the United Nations for 44 economies (see box for a discussion of the data).