Pakistan’s food crisis is showing up on the dinner table, with families cutting back on meat, milk and other everyday staples as rising prices squeeze household budgets, according to a report by Pakistani news outlet Pakistan Today.
The report, citing data from the Bureau of Statistics (PBS), found that household consumption has fallen across almost all major food categories over the past six years. The decline is visible in both rural and urban areas, with families consuming less wheat, rice, meat, milk and tea.
At the same time, food insecurity has risen sharply.
The share of households classified as moderately to severely food insecure increased from 15.92% in 2018-19 to 24.35% in 2024-25, according to the data cited in the report. Severe food insecurity more than doubled during the same period, rising from 2.37% to 5.04%.
The figures point to a growing problem of food affordability, with households increasingly having to adjust what they buy and how much they consume.
The shift is visible in everyday eating habits.
Families are consuming less wheat and rice, cooking meat less frequently and cutting back on milk. Tea consumption has also declined, according to the data cited by Pakistan Today.
One food, however, is bucking the trend: vanaspati ghee.
Monthly consumption of vanaspati ghee rose 81%, from 690 grams to 1.25 kg. The increase stands out against the broader decline in consumption across major food categories.
The pattern suggests that as household budgets come under pressure, families may be changing not just how much food they buy, but also the composition of their diets.
Meat and milk can be relatively expensive sources of protein and other nutrients, while cheaper, calorie-dense alternatives may become more attractive when household budgets are squeezed.
The consumption data alone, however, does not establish why households are buying more ghee. That link needs to be assessed alongside food-price and income data.
The deterioration in household diets comes despite Pakistan’s long-standing identity as an agricultural economy.
Pakistan Today’s report also notes that the country has been a net importer of food since at least 2021. But the bigger issue emerging from the household data is not simply whether food is available. It is whether families can afford enough of it.
As food prices rise and purchasing power comes under pressure, households may respond by buying smaller quantities, switching to cheaper alternatives or cutting certain foods altogether.
That distinction matters. Food can be available in the market without being affordable to a household whose purchasing power has fallen.
The latest consumption figures suggest that this pressure is already affecting what Pakistani families put on their plates.
Food insecurity remains more pronounced in rural areas, but the deterioration is not confined to villages.
Urban households are also reporting lower consumption across several food categories, indicating that rising food costs and pressure on household budgets are affecting families across the rural-urban divide.
The rise in severe food insecurity is particularly striking. The proportion of households in that category increased from 2.37% in 2018-19 to 5.04% in 2024-25, more than doubling in six years.
The trend raises concerns about dietary quality, particularly if households continue to replace more expensive foods with cheaper alternatives.
However, the food-security figures should not be interpreted as a direct measure of malnutrition. Food insecurity captures inadequate or uncertain access to sufficient food and does not mean that every household classified as food insecure is starving or malnourished.
Pakistan’s latest household data highlights a basic distinction between having food and being able to afford a nutritious diet.
A country can produce substantial quantities of food and still have households cutting portions, buying less meat and milk or turning to cheaper alternatives when prices rise.
That makes the changing Pakistani diet more than a story about consumption. It is also a window into the pressure on household purchasing power.
The most striking signal may be the combination of two trends: food insecurity is rising while consumption of several everyday staples is falling.
If that pattern persists, the question for Pakistan will not simply be whether it can produce enough food. It will be whether enough of its people can afford to eat well.