在2月15日至23日的春节期间，国家统计局首次披露，按新CPI权重计算，食品（不含外出就餐、酒和烟）占中国家庭消费的17.2%，而美国对应比例低于8%。这个差距意味着中国用于基本食物的消费占比超过美国的两倍，突出了饮食偏好，也指向了恩格尔定律所反映的发展差距。

历史证据同样是数量化的：恩格尔基于19世纪50年代比利时九个省的199户家庭预算，并可与欧洲36个家庭的数据相互印证；在150年后的复核中，这一关系在200多个国家仍然清晰可见。与此同时，包含食品、外出就餐、酒和烟的中国官方恩格尔系数在2025年为29.3%，与八年前相同，这一停滞与已报告的增长形成了统计上的张力。

关键修正来自“外出就餐溢价”：实地测算显示，中国街头餐食比家做饭最高贵30%，麦当劳贵150%，牛排贵233%，说明餐饮支出并不等于纯食品支出。Wind数据显示“餐饮服务”占比从2017年的5.0%升至2024年的7.4%；据此反推，若剔除外出就餐，食品权重大约从2017年的20.7%降至2025年的17.2%，趋势上并未违背恩格尔定律。

During the February 15-23 Spring Festival period, the NBS disclosed for the first time that under revised CPI weights, food (excluding dining out, alcohol, and tobacco) accounted for 17.2% of Chinese household consumption, versus less than 8% in the U.S. This gap means China’s basic-food share is more than double America’s, highlighting food preference while signaling a development gap under Engel’s law.

The historical evidence is also numeric: Engel drew on budgets from 199 households across nine Belgian provinces in the 1850s and corroborated them with data from 36 European families; 150 years later, the relationship remained visible across more than 200 countries. At the same time, China’s official Engel coefficient including food, dining out, alcohol, and tobacco was 29.3% in 2025, unchanged from eight years earlier, creating statistical tension with reported growth.

A key adjustment is the dining-out premium: field estimates found Chinese street meals cost up to 30% more than home cooking, McDonald’s cost 150% more, and steak cost 233% more, so catering spending is not pure food spending. Wind data show catering services rose from 5.0% of consumption in 2017 to 7.4% in 2024; backing this out implies food’s weight, excluding dining out, fell from about 20.7% in 2017 to 17.2% in 2025, so the trend does not violate Engel’s law.

Source: Why Chinese people spend so much on food

Subtitle: A 21st-century test of a 19th-century observatio

Dateline: 2月 26, 2026 04:27 上午