According to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey by Statistics Korea on the 2nd, the average monthly food expenditure for households in the bottom 20% income bracket (1st quintile) was 434,000 won last year. This included 274,000 won spent on groceries and non-alcoholic beverages, and 160,000 won on dining out. This is a 39% increase from 313,000 won in 2019, significantly higher than the average monthly food expenditure increase rate of 26% for all households. This indicates that low-income households were more severely affected by high inflation.

With successive price hikes in the food and restaurant industries, the food cost burden for low-income households is expected to increase further this year. This is because the proportion of food expenses in disposable income, which is the income available for actual spending after taxes, is higher for low-income households. In the fourth quarter (October to December) of last year, the disposable income of the 1st quintile households was 1,037,000 won, of which 466,000 won was spent on food, accounting for 45% of the total disposable income. For the 2nd quintile households (bottom 20-40% income), the proportion of food expenses in disposable income was 25%, while for the 5th quintile households (top 20% income), it was only 15%."