Photo/Illutration Prices of some rice brands harvested in 2024 were nearly double those from the previous year at a supermarket in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward in January. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

As Japan grappled with skyrocketing prices, spending on food by households in 2024 hit the highest level in 43 years, government data shows.

The average monthly expenditure of households with two or more people came to 300,243 yen ($1,965), down 1.1 percent year on year in real terms, after eliminating the impact of commodity price fluctuations.

The internal affairs ministry released its study on food spending on Feb. 7. It is based on what is known as the Engel’s coefficient, a measure of how much money a household devotes to food costs in relation to total expenses. It is often used to gauge a country’s standard of living as a decline in the coefficient indicates increased affluence and ability to spend money for purposes other than food.

For 2024, the figure was 28.3 percent, the highest since 1981 when the Engel’s coefficient was 28.8 percent.

In 1979, the figure fell below 30 percent and continued to decline until it bottomed out in 2005 at 22.9 percent. It then started to increase.

One reason for this was that people ate out more frequently and resorted to pre-prepared meals more often.

In 2024, the Engel’s coefficient was pushed up primarily by the soaring prices of common foodstuffs.

The consumer price index for rice, for example, surged 27.7 percent, logging the most dramatic rise since 1975, when the figure topped 29 percent. Similarly, vegetable prices were pushed up by poor harvests due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Indexes for cabbages and onions jumped by upward of 20 percent.

As a result, the Engel’s coefficient for 2024 surpassed 27.8 percent in 2023 for the second consecutive year of increase.

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