Expenditure on booze and fags is way down on the same figure five years ago.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office have revealed that the estimated average weekly expenditure for all households in Ireland is just over €845.
That figure comes from the 2015-2016 Household Budget Survey (HBS), which was undertaken between February 2015 and February 2016, covering 6,839 households throughout the country.
The average weekly expenditure increased by 4.3% (€44.51) from a figure of €810.61 recorded five years earlier, despite a significant decline in expenditure on tobacco and alcohol in particular, which decreased from €39.48 to €28 per week.
As can be seen in the graph below, housing (€164 per week), transport (€124) and food (€123) account for a hefty portion of a household’s weekly expenditure; interestingly, the report revealed that the proportion of total expenditure on food has declined from 27.7% to 14.6% in the last 35 years.
Image via cso.ie
The proportion of total expenditure relating to housing, meanwhile increased from 9.6% to 19.4% in the period 1999-2000 to 2015-2016.
While average weekly expenditure has increased in Ireland in the last five years, so has the average gross weekly household income, which was €1,097.04 in 2015-16, 6.8% higher than the €1,026.77 figure recorded five years earlier.
Average weekly household disposable income (which is arrived at after the deduction of income tax and social insurance from gross income) increased by nearly 3% from €885.72 to €909.25 over the five year period.
You can see the results of the Household Budget Survey in full here.
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