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Housing, water, electricity and gas represent largest portion of household costs

30/12/2021 08:26

In 2020, ‘Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ represented more than a quarter (25.7 %) of EU household expenditure, up by 2.2 percentage points (pp) compared with 2019 according to data published by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office.

‘Food and non-alcoholic beverages’ (1.8 pp) and ‘Furnishings and household equipment’ (0.5 pp) also recorded increases among household expenditure categories, representing 14.8 % and 6.0 % respectively of total expenditure in 2020.

These increases are consistent with lockdown and mobility control measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the EU Member States. The restrictions apparently also had an impact on other items, most notably on ‘Restaurants and hotels’ (2.7 pp), ‘Transport’ (1.5 pp) and ‘Recreation and culture’ (0.9 pp), with these categories representing 6.0 %, 11.6 % and 7.8 % respectively of total expenditure in 2020.

In Cyprus during the same period, the largest portion of household expenditure concerned housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (18%). The rest of the categories in decreasing order were ‘Food and non-alcoholic beverages’ (14.1%), ‘Restaurants and hotels’ (12.9%), ‘Transport’ (12.5%), ‘Other goods and services’ (10.2%), ‘Recreation and culture’ (6.8%), ‘Furnishings and household equipment (5.8%), ‘Alcoholic beverages and tobacco’ (5.6%), ‘Clothing and footwear’ (5.1%), ‘Education’ (3.6%), ‘Communications’ (2.9%) and ‘Health’ (2.5%).