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Annual expenditure. In relation to the activity of the main breadwinner

Average annual expenditure. In relation to the activity of the main breadwinner Catalonia. 2020
Average expenditure
Per household (euros) Per person (euros) Per unit of consumption (euros) Total expenditure (millions of euros)
Active 30,449 11,069 17,065 65,399
Employed 31,490 11,362 17,546 62,591
Unemployed 17,532 7,026 10,592 2,808
Inactive 26,418 14,726 18,991 24,461
Retired 27,277 14,883 19,328 21,434
Domestic work 18,827 15,666 17,102 1,574
Others 25,701 12,073 16,694 1,453
Total 29,235 11,872 17,549 89,859
Source: Idescat. Statistics on Household Consumer Expeditures, base 2016.

Last update: September 30, 2021.

Methodological note

Methodological aspects

The data on family expenditure was obtained from the Family budget survey (EPF) conducted by the INE. Family income is expressed in annual averages per household, person and consumption unit. The expenditure groups are grouped in accordance with the Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose COICOP-HBS of the European system of integrated economic accounts (ESA), nomenclature that was standardised by the Statistical Office of the European Union.

Household consumer expenditure represents the main economic activity of the population, and is an approach to the concept of private consumption as the most important component of a country's aggregate demand. The main aim of the statistics on household consumer expenditure is to produce information on the size, structure and distribution of this expense, as well as inter-annual variations of the aggregate consumption. The consumer expenditure recorded in the EPF refers to the monetary flow that household economies spend on the purchase of consumer products, as well as all non-monetary expenditure that is generated on the basis of supply, self-sufficiency, any salary in kind and imputed housing rent.

The expenditure can be calculated per person in the household and unit of consumption in the household. In order to obtain the units of consumption we use the so-called equivalence scales, which turn household members into units of consumption. These equivalence scales are applied because economies of scale are generated when a household shares certain goods and services, which means that the needs of a household with n persons are sometimes lower than the needs of a household with just one person.

In this case we use the modified OECD scale, which gives the following values to each member of the household:

  • Main provider: 1
  • Adult older than 13: 0.5
  • Child 13 and under: 0.3

The total expenditure of a household is divided by the number of units of consumption in the household and we thus obtain the equivalent expenditure per unit of consumption. Each member of a household is assigned the equivalent expenditure of his or her household.

The Family budget survey, Base 2006 (EPF) started in 2006 and substituted the Continuous Family Budget Survey, Base 1997 (ECPF) , which was used from 1997 to 2005. The EPF 2006 incorporates a variety of methodological and conceptual changes, which have improved the quality of the estimation of expenditure and its structure. Comparisons with data from the previous survey have to be made using statistical linking methods.

Expenditure is presented classified according to the Classification of the Functions of Individual Consumption (COICOP/HBS) until 2015. From 2016 onwards, the European Classification of the Functions of Individual Consumption (ECOICOP) is used. These two classifications are not entirely comparable.

You can get more information about these statistics in the methodology.