EU households dedicated more than half of their expenditure to housing and food in 2005
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A third of household expenditure in the EU27 in 2005 went on housing, including utilities & furniture (33.1%), and almost a fifth on food, beverages & tobacco (19.4%). The other half of the expenditure was mainly dedicated to transport (11.9%), recreation & culture (8.4%), clothing & footwear (5.7%), restaurants & hotels (5.3%), health (3.4%), communications (3.3%) and education (1.0%).
Household expenditure on housing & furniture ranged from 19% of total household expenditure in 2005 in Romania and 20% in Malta to 38% in Bulgaria and 37% in Luxembourg. The shares for food, beverages & tobacco ranged from 11% in Luxembourg and 12% in the United Kingdom and Sweden to 50% in Romania and 37% in Lithuania.
These figures published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities are based on data from the 2005 Household Budget Survey (HBS). The HBS provides a detailed breakdown of the consumption expenditure of households by socio-economic aspects, such as the number of adults and children in the household, the working situation of the reference person in the household, the age of the reference person etc. The HBS also provides data on a very detailed level of consumption.
Households with lowest income spend 60% of their expenditure on food and housing, compared with 45% for households with highest income
There are significant differences in the spending patterns of households within the EU, depending on their equivalised disposable income3. In 2005, the lowest quintile of households according to disposable income (the 20% of households with the lowest equivalised disposable income) in the EU27 spent 25% of their expenditure on food, beverages & tobacco, and 37% on housing, while the highest quintile (the 20% of households with the highest equivalised disposable income) spent 15% and 31% respectively.
On the other hand, the highest quintile spent a larger proportion of their expenditure on transport (14%), recreation & culture (9%) and restaurants & hotels (6%) than the lowest quintile did (8%, 6% and 4% respectively).
Household consumption by consumption categories, 2005, in %
|
| Food, drink & tobacco * | Clothing & footwear | Housing ** | Health | Transport | Communi cations | Recre ation & culture | Educ ation | Resta urants & hotels |
| EU27 | 19.4 | 5.7 | 33.1 | 3.4 | 11.9 | 3.3 | 8.4 | 1.0 | 5.3 |
| Belgium | 15.7 | 4.7 | 30.9 | 4.7 | 12.9 | 2.9 | 9.5 | 0.5 | 6.3 |
| Bulgaria | 35.3 | 3.1 | 37.7 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 4.6 | 2.9 | 0.5 | 3.6 |
| Czech Republic | 23.5 | 5.6 | 26.8 | 2.0 | 11.1 | 4.6 | 10.6 | 0.5 | 5.1 |
| Denmark | 15.2 | 4.9 | 36.0 | 2.7 | 13.8 | 2.4 | 11.4 | 0.4 | 4.0 |
| Germany | 12.9 | 4.8 | 35.0 | 3.6 | 13.3 | 2.9 | 11.1 | 0.8 | 4.3 |
| Estonia | 25.3 | 5.5 | 35.1 | 2.6 | 10.0 | 5.5 | 6.4 | 1.3 | 3.1 |
| Ireland | 17.9 | 5.1 | 30.6 | 2.5 | 11.6 | 3.4 | 10.1 | 1.9 | 6.0 |
| Greece | 18.9 | 7.0 | 30.2 | 5.9 | 10.4 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 8.6 |
| Spain | 20.3 | 6.9 | 35.0 | 2.2 | 10.5 | 2.7 | 6.4 | 1.1 | 9.3 |
| France | 15.7 | 6.6 | 32.4 | 4.2 | 13.5 | 3.3 | 6.9 | 0.6 | 4.6 |
| Italy | 20.4 | 7.0 | 35.4 | 3.9 | 11.9 | 2.2 | 5.8 | 0.7 | 5.0 |
| Cyprus | 17.0 | 7.7 | 27.5 | 4.7 | 14.6 | 3.4 | 6.0 | 4.0 | 8.3 |
| Latvia | 32.3 | 7.3 | 22.3 | 3.7 | 10.9 | 5.8 | 6.3 | 1.4 | 5.3 |
| Lithuania | 37.3 | 7.9 | 23.1 | 4.7 | 8.1 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 1.1 | 4.6 |
| Luxembourg | 11.0 | 6.4 | 37.2 | 2.6 | 16.2 | 2.2 | 7.5 | 0.4 | 7.9 |
| Hungary | 26.2 | 5.0 | 24.1 | 4.1 | 14.1 | 6.5 | 8.5 | 0.8 | 3.2 |
| Malta | 24.0 | 8.3 | 19.8 | 3.0 | 16.6 | 2.9 | 10.1 | 1.2 | 7.1 |
| Netherlands | 12.6 | 5.8 | 32.0 | 1.3 | 10.9 | 3.1 | 10.9 | 1.0 | 5.6 |
| Austria | 15.8 | 5.6 | 28.5 | 3.1 | 16.1 | 2.6 | 12.6 | 0.8 | 5.5 |
| Poland | 28.0 | 4.6 | 36.0 |