Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages

Consumers spend $10.70 trillion on food and non-alcoholic beverages in 2026, which is 15.1% of all their spending. The market grows 5.01% a year in current dollars and reaches $17.45 trillion by 2036. Between those two years it adds $6.75 trillion.

The fastest-growing subcategory is fish and seafood at 5.48% a year and the slowest is mineral waters, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices at 4.53%. The category as a whole grows 5.01% a year. The two largest subcategories are meat at $2.13 trillion and bread and cereals at $1.85 trillion. Both grow more slowly than fish and seafood.

Tokyo spends the most at $108bn a year, followed by New York City at $77bn and Mexico City at $69bn. We estimate the category for all 9,400+ cities in every year to 2040. The top ten of the 253 cities on this page's map hold 21% of the spending it shows.

Among the largest city markets, New Delhi grows fastest at 8.3% a year and Moscow slowest at 1.6%. The cities adding the most spending by 2036 make a different list, led by Tokyo at $44bn, Manila at $42bn and New Delhi at $42bn.

Yes, every market and city splits the category into five age bands and five spending tiers. Sizing the cohort you target means filtering those same figures, with nothing extra to commission. Kitakyushu has the oldest profile, with 36% of its spending from the over-65s. San Francisco is the most affluent, with 95% from its richest spending tier.

We forecast every country, subcategory and cohort each year to 2050, and every city to 2040. Because one model produces all of them, a market and a city read on the same scale. The method is published and peer reviewed. Our page on how we measure spending sets it out. The average person spends $1,311 a year on food and non-alcoholic beverages today.