Brussels, 23/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - According to figures published on 19 June by Eurostat 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 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.
The Statistical Office of the European Communities highlighted significant differences in the spending patterns of households within the EU, depending on their equivalised disposable income. 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).
In 2005, household expenditure on alcoholic beverages ranged from 0.5% of total expenditure in Cyprus to 4.1% in Ireland. For meat, the share of household expenditure ranged from 1.9% in Sweden to 11.8% in Romania. The share for newspapers, books & stationary varied between 0.6% in Bulgaria and 2.4% in Malta. For household expenditure on restaurants & cafés, it ranged from 0.5% in Romania to 9.6% in Portugal. (O.L./trans.rh)