This paper determines the household food demand for various income groups in Pakistan
namely, The Lower Income Group (≤ $ 93.023), Lower-middle Income Group ( $93.034-
139.534), Middle Income Group ($139.546-209.302), Upper-middle Income Group
($ 209.314-406.977) and Upper Income Group ($406.977+) United States dollars
respectively. The Pakistani rupees are converted into US $ according to the average
exchange rate of (2010-11).The study uses Pakistan Social and Living Standard
Measurement Survey data (2010-11) conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics,
Government of Pakistan, Islamabad. The food expenditures are the sum of monthly
expenditures by each household on the following 16 major food items, wheat, rice, pulses,
vegetables ghee, Milk (Fresh), butter, mutton, beef, chicken, fish, fruits, vegetables, salt,
spices, sugar and gur. The household size and income elasticities are estimated to
explain the food consumption trends in Pakistan. The results of the study indicate that all
the income and household size elasticities are positive and significant at one percent level
of significance. And the study also indicates that food income elasticity is the highest
(0.901) for the Lower-Middle Income Group and the same is the lowest (0.716) for the Upper Income Group. Similarly, household size elasticity is the highest (0.181) for the
Upper Income Group and the same is the lowest (0.067) for Lower Income Group. It is
highly recommended that family planning system should be introduced in the country to
keep away from the harmful impact of large family sizes upon the household food
consumption, and it is also necessary for policy makers to make plan to improve the food
availability and to increase family income to develop the standard and quality of the rural
people of Pakistan.