Statistics: Food and dwelling costs over third of 2019 household outgoings
According to Statistics Estonia, in 2019, individual household members spent an average of €489 euros per month, €81 more than in 2016.
Last year, expenditure on food and dwelling accounted for 36.8 per cent of the household budget to be precise, and on average came to €180 per month per household member.
Compulsory expenditure, meaning unavoidable food and dwelling expenses in a household budget, increased by €18 per month per household member, a 3 percent increase in share, since 2016.
In 2019, the average household member spent €104 per month on food and non-alcoholic beverages, which accounted for 21.2 percent of total expenditure, Statistics Estonia reports.
Breakdown by category and region
Average expenditure per household per month in 2019:
- Dwelling place: €76 per month.
- Transport: €72 per month (the largest increase by category since 2016 at €22).
- Leisure: €52.
- Housekeeping: €36.
- Clothing and footwear: €27.
- Largest expenditures of households were in Hiiu* (€598 per indivudal per month), Harju (€553) and Viljandi (€515) counties.
- Smallest figures reported for Võru and Ida-Viru counties (€325 and €327 per month per household member, respectively).
* The Hiiu County sample included households that had large one-time expenses, Statistics Estonia says.
Urban areas versus rural areas
Urban households | Rural households | |
Per household | ||
Average dwelling expenditure | €84 | €64 |
Eating out/hotels expenditure | 5.9 percent | 4.1 percent |
Transport expenditure | 13.7 percent (€69 per month) | 16.8 percent (€77 per month) |
Per household member | ||
Food and non-alcoholic beverages expenditure | 20.4 percent | 22.8 percent |
More details are available on Statistics Estonia's website here.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte