“恩格尔系数”是19世纪德国统计学家恩斯特·恩格尔经过大量的调查计算首先提出的。进入20世纪以来,恩格尔系数(尤指食品占整个家庭支出的比率)常被用来衡量或评价某个国家居民富裕或家庭现代化的程度。食品在整个开支中所占比率越大,恩格尔系数越高,说明这个国家或居民的贫困化程度越高;反之亦然。恩格尔系数也被称为“恩格尔定律”,“恩格尔曲线”。 The “Engel Coefficient” was first proposed by 19th-century German statistician Ernst Engel after extensive investigations and calculations. Since the 20th century, the Engel’s Coefficient (especially the ratio of food to total household expenditure) has often been used to measure or evaluate the degree to which a country’s inhabitants are wealthy or family-based. The greater the proportion of food in the total expenditure, the higher the Engel’s coefficient, indicating the higher the level of poverty in the country or population; and vice versa. The Engel’s Coefficient is also known as “Engel’s Law” and “Engel’s Curve.”