Share of income spent on food and clothing in Switzerland 1912-2000

Engel's law is an economic theory first put forward by Ernst Engel in 1857, claiming that the higher a family's income is, the lower the share of that income is that goes into food. This theory definitely rings true when looking at European consumer buying behavior in the 20^th century, with Switzerland as a prime example. In 1912, Swiss families spent approximately 61 percent of their income on food and clothing, which then fell to 47 percent in 1949. The continued rise of European capitalism and consumerism saw this figure fall to just 12 percent by the end of the millennium. At that point, Switzerland had developed into one of the wealthiest countries in the world, with the third-highest GDP per capita (behind Luxembourg and Japan, respectively).