A high share of spending on food remains a key indicator of low household welfare in Kazakhstan. By the end of 2025, average per capita expenditures on food and non-alcoholic beverages reached 615.5 thousand tenge. This represents a 13.9% increase year-on-year, while in the long term, since 2010, nominal spending has grown nearly sixfold.
At the same time, the structural burden on household budgets is not easing. In 2025, the share of food expenditures in total spending stood at 47.8% — only slightly below the peak levels seen during the pandemic. In 2020, the country exceeded the threshold where food spending reached a record 50.4% of total household expenditures. The indicator has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Even with some decline, the share remains elevated, pointing to persistent structural pressure, with a significant portion of spending still allocated to basic needs.
Despite rising nominal incomes, a substantial share is absorbed by maintaining a standard consumption basket, leaving less disposable income for other purposes. In January–December 2025, food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 42.5% of total income, compared to 40.7% a year earlier.
The situation is further aggravated at the regional level, where in a number of regions household budgets have effectively turned into a mechanism for purchasing food. The highest absolute spending on food in January–December 2025 was recorded in Almaty: 843.1 thousand tenge per capita on average, 37% higher than the national average. However, absolute values tell only part of the story. Far more important is the share of the budget consumed by food.
In Zhetysu Region, residents spent 59.1% of their total income and 55.7% of total expenditures on food — more than half of both what they earned and what they spent. In Zhambyl Region, the figures were similarly high: 55.9% of income and 56.4% of expenditures. In Turkestan Region, the shares stood at 52.9% and 57.2%, respectively. For comparison, in Almaty, spending on food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 45.2% of income and 48.6% of total expenditures.
More moderate food spending within household budgets was observed in Astana: 34.4% of income and 42.6% of expenditures. In Karaganda Region, food accounted for 33.6% of income and 38.5% of expenditures, while in Kostanay Region the figures were 32.4% and 42.7%, respectively.
The structure of food expenditures remains highly rigid and weakly diversified. In January–December 2025, meat and meat products accounted for the largest share: 34.4% of total food spending (211.6 thousand tenge per capita). In effect, more than one-third of all food expenditures was concentrated in a single category. Over the year, spending on meat and meat products increased by 18.1%.
Other significant shares were held by bread and cereals (14.7%) and dairy products (10.6%). Together, these three categories accounted for around 60% of total food expenditures. Their shares have remained largely stable in recent years, indicating limited flexibility in spending patterns.
Expenditures on fruits and vegetables, despite growth in absolute terms (plus 15.3% and plus 22.8%, respectively), accounted for comparatively smaller shares: 9.1% and 7.7%. This indirectly reflects limited capacity of households to reallocate budgets toward more diverse and typically more expensive diets.
Other categories accounted for even smaller shares. For example, spending on fish and seafood made up just 4.4% of total food expenditures, while eggs accounted for 2.1%. This highlights that consumption patterns remain skewed toward basic and relatively affordable products.
The fundamental driver behind the surge in food spending remains aggressive price growth. As of February 2026, prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages in Kazakhstan increased by 12.6% year-on-year. This indicates a sharp intensification of inflationary pressure, compared to 6.3% in the same period of 2025.
In fact, the current pace of price growth is among the highest in the past decade, second only to the spike in February 2023, when food prices surged by 26.4% amid global geopolitical instability. At the regional level, the strongest price pressure in February 2026 was observed in Ulytau Region, where food prices increased by 16.2%. This was followed by Akmola Region and North Kazakhstan Region, with increases of 15.2% and 15.1%, respectively.
The trend at the beginning of the current year appears concerning against the backdrop of 2025 results, when average annual food price growth reached 10.3% year-on-year. The acceleration of food inflation this year creates direct risks that, by the end of 2026, the share of food expenditures in household budgets may once again exceed the 50% threshold.
Under such conditions, households are left with little capacity for quality consumption of non-food goods and services, leading to a further decline in real living standards.
