Household consumptions

In 2013 the average monthly household consumption expenditure, at current values, was 2,359 Euros (with a -2.5% change in comparison with 2012). Taking into account the sampling error (0.6%) and the inflation rate dynamics (+1.2%), the expenditure diminished in real terms, too.

The median monthly expenditure was 1,989 Euros, -4.3% in comparison with 2012.

In comparison with 2012, the average expenditure on food and beverages is basically stable (461 Euros per month) even if a decrease is observed for meat expenditure (-3.2%) and the households continued to carry out saving strategy to cope with prices increase: the percentage of households that reduced foodstuffs quantity or quality increased (from 62.3% in 2012 to 65% in 2013) as well as the percentage of households buying in the hard discounts (from 12.3% to 14.4).

Non-food expenditure declined by 2.7% and was 1,898 Euros per month: a decrease is observed for expenditures on clothing and footwear (-8.9%), on recreation and culture (-5.6%) and on communication
(-3.5%).

The share of total consumption expenditure on food and beverages increased (from 19.4% to 19.5%) as a consequence of the stability of the expenditure amount.

Trentino-Alto Adige, in particular the Bolzano province, was the region showing the highest expenditure level (2,968 Euros), followed by Lombardia (2,774 Euros). At the bottom of the ranking, once again, Sicilia with an average monthly expenditure of 1,580 Euros, that is about 1,400 Euros less than that observed in Trentino-Alto Adige.