恩格尔定律是德国统计学家恩斯特·恩格尔(Ernst Engel)阐明的一个定律,就是随着家庭和个人收入增加,收入中用于食品方面的支出比例将逐渐减小。反映这一定律的系数即食品支出总额占消费支出总额比率,被称为恩格尔系数。恩格尔定律揭示了居民收入和食品支出之间的相关关系,用以说明经济发展收入增加对生活消费的影响程度。一个国家、地区或家庭生活越贫困,恩格尔系 Engel’s law is a law formulated by Ernst Engel, a German statistician, that as the incomes of households and individuals increase, the proportion of income spent on food will gradually decrease. The coefficient reflecting this law, the ratio of total food expenditure to total expenditure on consumption, is called the Engel’s Coefficient. Engel’s Law reveals the correlation between household income and food expenditure, to illustrate the impact of increased economic development on consumer spending. The poorer a country, region or family life, the Engel system