ABSTRACT
Data used to describe urban foodgrain consumption are primarily from China’s State Statistical Bureau. Since the late 1970s, the availability of diverse foods to urban residents has been significantly improved, thanks to the rural economic reforms. As a result of their increased income, urban residents can now increase their consumption of various foods, and their expenditure on food has been increasing. However, due to a faster increase in their disposable income, the actual share of food expenditure out of total living expenditure, or the Engel coefficient, has been declining over the past two decades (see Figure 5.1). The Engel coefficient declined from 57.5% in 1978 to 37.7% in 2002.
