PETALING JAYA: Malaysian households spent more on eating out than on food consumed at home in 2024, averaging RM902.70 a month on meals outside compared with RM875.80 on food at home, Khazanah Research Institute says.
KRI's The State of Households 2026 said the trend came amid growing concerns over the nation's health, with more than half of Malaysian adults classified as overweight or obese in 2023.
Household spending on eating out increased across all income groups between 2019 and 2024, it said, but the rise was more pronounced among the bottom 80% of households, whose average expenditure grew nearly 1.5 times over the five-year period.
For the top 20% of households, spending on eating out increased by less than 1.3 times.
“Possible explanations for this continued increase in eating out expenditure may be both higher living costs and evolving lifestyle behaviours,” the report said.
“These may have implications for public health outcomes as eating out has been linked to poor diet quality, which in turn raises the risk of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).”
The report also said the share of the population considered overweight and obese, which are key risks for NCDs, rose between 2019 and 2023.
In 2023, 32.6% of Malaysian adults were overweight and 21.8% were obese, meaning more than half the adult population (54.4%) was above a healthy weight range.
The report also highlighted other worrying health trends, including declining physical activity between 2019 and 2023, particularly in urban areas, where occupations, transport choices, lifestyles and living environments may influence activity levels.
A large proportion of Malaysians also failed to meet recommended fruit and vegetable intake levels in 2023, it said.
Meanwhile, diabetes emerged as one of the five leading causes of death in most states between 2022 and 2024.