Household Budget Survey 2022 - 2023

The reliability of the results from the Household Budget Survey (HBS) depends to a large extent on the accuracy, reliability and completeness of the information provided by the respondents. Estimates for certain types of expenditure (e.g. alcohol and tobacco) tend to be underestimated in surveys of this nature.

Previously, in defining a ‘household’, the HBS used an ‘address’ concept (i.e. all persons living at the same address who shared catering arrangements were treated as a single household). From 2022-2023, the HBS definition of a household uses a shared income and expenditure concept. Flat mates or housemates who do not share expenditure are now considered as separate households. Household expenditure (including rent) is now calculated on this basis and as a result, caution is advised when interpreting changes in expenditure over time as the change to household definition impacts on expenditure estimates from the 2022-2023 HBS. See Information Note.

The estimated average weekly expenditure in 2022-2023 for all households in the State was €1,007.47. This is 20.3% higher than the estimated figure of €837.47 in 2015-2016. See Table 2.1.

The highest percentage increase (63.7%) was recorded for Fuel & Light^[1], where average weekly expenditure increased by €24.55 from €38.56 in 2015-2016 to €63.11 in 2022-2023. This increase was primarily due to expenditure on Electricity which rose from €18.17 to €33.72 per week over the seven-year period. Electricity expenditure was based on the amount the household actually paid, after the application of electricity account credits. Spending on all other items (e.g. oil and gas) within the Fuel & Light commodity group also increased significantly.

Expenditure on Food increased by 30.5% between 2015-2016 and 2022-2023 while spending on Household Durable Goods (e.g. furniture and household appliances) and Household Non-Durable Goods (e.g. cleaning products and toiletries) increased by 27.2% and 24.5% respectively. Reported expenditure on Clothing & Footwear increased by 17.5% while spending on Transport increased by 14.5%.

Expenditure on Housing^[2] increased by 12.3% from €164.36 per week to €184.56. This was mainly due to an increase in expenditure on Capital Improvements from €17.03 to €32.48 per week over the seven-year period. See PxStat Table HBS01.

As a proportion of total household expenditure, Fuel & Light had the largest increase, going from 4.6% in 2015-2016 to 6.3% in 2022-2023. Food increased from 14.7% to 16.0% while Housing fell from 19.6% to 18.3%.

The proportion of expenditure on all other commodity groups changed by a lesser amount (less than one percentage point) over this period. See Figure 2.1.

^[1] Expenditure on Fuel & Light relates to spending on energy for cooking, heating, and lighting (e.g. expenditure on electricity, gas, oil and solid fuels).

^[2] Expenditure on Housing includes spending on rent, mortgage, home insurance, local property tax, refuse, maintenance products and services and capital improvements.

Large increase in Housing expenditure in the last 42 years

The proportion of total expenditure on Housing had shown a steady increase from 1980 to 2015-2016. Over this period, the percentage of total expenditure on Housing increased from 7.2% to 19.6% with most of the proportional increase for Housing occurring during the period 1999-2000 to 2015-2016. In 2022-2023, the proportion of total expenditure on Housing fell to 18.3%. However, the proportion of total expenditure on Housing combined with the proportion spent on Fuel & Light increased from 24.2% in 2015-2016 to 24.6% in 2022-2023. See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2.

In 1980, almost 28% of total expenditure was on Food. This percentage almost halved to 14.7% in 2015-2016 but increased to 16.0% in 2022-2023. The proportion of total expenditure on Clothing & Footwear has shown a steady decline since 1980, dropping from 8.9% in 1980 to 3.9% in 2022-2023. The proportion of total expenditure on Alcoholic Drink & Tobacco has consistently fallen since 1987 (from 8.0% to 2.8% in 2022-2023). See Table 2.2.

The proportion of expenditure for Miscellaneous Goods, Services & Other Expenditure was 20.5% in 1980. The equivalent proportion in 2022-2023 was 33.1%. A more detailed breakdown of expenditure items included in the commodity group Miscellaneous Goods, Services & Other Expenditure is provided in the PxStat tables and includes expenditure on medical, childcare, education, and pensions. See PxStat Table HBS01.

In 1980, Pension Contributions accounted for just under 1% of total expenditure but had risen to 5.4% in 2022-2023. Medical related expenditure (e.g. expenditure on doctors, dentists, medicines and health insurance) accounted for 1.8% of total household expenditure in 1980 compared with 5.4% forty-two years later.

Households owned with a mortgage had the highest expenditure in 2022-2023

Households owned with a mortgage had the highest weekly expenditure in 2022-2023, at €1,448.08. This is double the expenditure of rented, included rent free households (€720.74).

Households owned with a mortgage spent the most on each of the nine commodity groups. See Table 2.3.

Households owned with a mortgage spent most on Housing (€320.85). Rented, included rent free households spent €174.06 on Housing while households owned outright spent €91.84. Households owned with a mortgage spent an average of €215.16 on Mortgage Payments (for the primary dwelling). Rented, including rent free households spent on average €164.10 per week on Rent. Households owned outright and those owned with a mortgage spent similar amounts on Capital Improvements, €46.69 and €48.33 respectively. See PxStat Table HBS02.

As a proportion of overall expenditure, rented, including rent free households spent the highest proportion on Housing (24.2%), compared with households owned with a mortgage (22.2%) and households owned outright (10.0%). Households owned outright spent the most on Miscellaneous Goods, Services & Other Expenditure (36.3%), Food (17.5%) and Transport (16.3%). Rented, including rent free households spent the most on and Fuel & Light (7.5%) and Alcoholic Drink & Tobacco (3.4%). See Table 2.4 and Figure 2.3.

Analysis by tenure status shows that households owned outright spent more on Medical (€69.13), Charitable Donations (€3.37) and Betting & Lotteries (€3.30). Households owned with a mortgage spent more on all other miscellaneous expenditure categories, including Pension Contributions (€109.97), Holidays (€76.89), Sports & Leisure Activities (€40.40), Education & Training (€18.89) and Childcare (€14.40). See Table 2.5.

As a proportion of money spent on Food Consumed at Home, households owned outright spent the most on Uncooked Meat & Fish (17.9%) and Fresh Fruit & Vegetables (12.5%). Households owned with a mortgage spent the most on Takeaways (10.1%) while rented, including rent free households spent the most on Soft Drinks (5.7%). See Figure 2.4.

Urban households spent more than Rural households

Urban households spent 6.5% more than rural households in 2022-2023 at €1,030.26 per week compared with €967.52. See Table 2.6 and Figure 2.5.

Analysis of total household weekly expenditure by location shows that the largest difference between urban and rural households was expenditure on Housing. In 2022-2023, urban households spent €208.44 per week on Housing compared with €142.71 for rural households. This was principally due to higher expenditure on Rent in urban areas, at €72.91 per week compared with €16.88 for rural areas. Urban households spent €67.55 per week on Mortgage Payments compared with €53.29 for rural households. See PxStat Table HBS01. Urban households also spent more on Alcoholic Drink & Tobacco, Clothing & Footwear, and Miscellaneous Goods, Services & Other Expenditure.

Urban households spent more per week on Holidays (€58.71 compared with €41.60 for rural households), Pension Contributions (€58.64 compared with €46.25 for rural households), Sports & Leisure Activities (€26.47 compared with €19.52 for rural households), Education & Training (€14.65 compared with €11.48 for rural households), Childcare (€7.16 compared with €5.01 for rural households) and Charitable Donations (€2.75 compared with €2.07 for rural households). See Table 2.7.

 

Rural households spent on average €159.78 per week on Transport compared with €132.46 for urban households. Rural households spent more on Motor Fuel & Lubricants (€56.29 compared with €30.55) and Insurance, Tax & Fines (€35.63 compared with €25.17). This is explained by rural households having a greater reliance on private transport. The corollary to this is that urban households’ expenditure on Bus, Luas, Rail & Taxi was almost three times that of rural households (€6.18 compared with €2.29). See PxStat Table HBS01.

Rural households spent more on Medical (€59.30 compared with €51.34 for urban households), Phone (€17.09 compared with €16.74 for urban households), Betting & Lotteries (€3.02 compared with €2.56 for urban households) and Reading Materials (€8.24 compared with €6.96 for urban households). See Table 2.7.

Almost one quarter of single adult household expenditure was on housing

As a proportion of overall expenditure, single adult households spent the most on Housing (23.0%), Fuel & Light (8.9%) and Alcoholic Drink & Tobacco (3.5%). See Tables 2.8 and 2.9.

Proportionately households with three or more adults spent the most on Miscellaneous Goods, Services & Other Expenditure (36.4%), Food (16.7%) and Transport (16.0%), while households with children spent the most on Clothing & Footwear (4.4%) and Household Non-Durable Goods (2.2%). See Table 2.9 above.

As a proportion of money spent on Food Consumed at Home, households comprising three or more adults spent the most on Uncooked Meat & Fish (17.5%) while two adult households spent the most on Fresh Fruit & Vegetables (13.0%). Households with children spent the least on Uncooked Meat & Fish (14.1%) and Fresh Fruit & Vegetables (10.9%) but most on Sugars, Confectionery & Snacks (11.2%), Takeaways (9.7%), Pastries & Biscuits (7.4%) and Soft Drinks (5.7%). As a proportion of money spent on Food Consumed at Home single adult households had the highest expenditure on Milk, Cream, Yoghurts & Cheese (9.7%) and Bread (5.6%). See Figure 2.6.

Highest income households spent nearly four times the amount of lowest income households

Households in the highest income quintile (i.e. those with a disposable weekly income in excess of €1,836.00 spent on average €1,757.16 per week in 2022-2023. This is just under four times the amount (€444.00) that households in the lowest income quintile (i.e. with a disposable income below €536.71) spent. See Table 2.10.

As a proportion of total household expenditure, households in the lowest income quintile spent more on Food than households in the highest income quintile (17.8% compared with 13.5%). They also spent a higher proportion of their total expenditure on Fuel & Light (10.9% compared with 4.4%) and on Housing (22.7% compared with 17.6%). While combined expenditure on Food, Fuel & Light and Housing accounted for more than half (51.4%) of total expenditure in households in the lowest income quintile, this fell to over a third (35.5%) for households in the highest income quintile. Conversely, expenditure on Miscellaneous Goods, Services & Other Expenditure accounted for almost 40% of total expenditure in the highest income households while the corresponding figure was under 24% for those in the lowest income quintile. See Figure 2.7.

Households in the highest income quintile spent substantially more than households in the lowest income quintile on Medical expenditure, at €97.40 a week compared with €18.66 a week for households in the lowest income quintile. Households in the highest income quintile spent €12.08 per week on Childcare compared with €0.08 per week for those in the lowest income quintile. They also spent more than seven times the amount on Holidays (€105.52 compared with €14.36 for households in the lowest income quintile). See PxStat Table HBS03.

As a proportion of the total expenditure on Food Consumed at Home, households in the lowest income quintile spent 5.2% on Takeaways compared with 10.5% for households in the highest income quintile. To put this in monetary terms, households in the lowest income quintile spent on average €3.54 per week on Takeaways compared with €19.06 per week for households in the highest income quintile. Just over 14% of total Food expenditure for households in the lowest income quintile was on Meals Away From Home (including takeout tea/coffee). This was over 23% for households in the highest income quintile. See PxStat Table HBS03.

Households where reference person was employed spent the most in all nine commodity groups

In 2022-2023, households where the reference person was employed had an average weekly household expenditure of €1,190.53. Households where the reference person was retired spent €648.89 while other households (where the reference person was unemployed/student/on home duties) spent €587.79. Households where the reference person was employed spent the most on all nine commodity groups. See Table 2.11.

Households where the reference person was employed spent the most on Housing (€227.89) while households where the reference person was retired spent the least (€84.41). Expenditure on Mortgage Payments and Rent were €86.02 and €65.14 respectively per week for households where the reference person was employed compared with €8.69 and €9.31 respectively for households where the reference person was retired. See PxStat Table HBS07.

As a proportion of overall expenditure, other households (where the reference person was unemployed/student/on home duties) had the highest expenditure for seven of the nine commodity groups. Households where the reference person was employed or retired spent similar proportions on Miscellaneous Goods, Services & Other Expenditure (33.9% and 33.5% respectively) compared with 21.2% for other households. See Table 2.12.

Households where the reference person was employed spent the most on all but one category in the Miscellaneous Goods, Services & Other Expenditure commodity group.  Households where the reference person was employed spent substantially more on Pension Contributions (€78.93), Holidays (€65.06), Sports & Leisure Activities (€30.05), Education & Training (€16.61) and Childcare (€9.46) than other households. Households where the reference person was retired spent the most on Charitable Donations (€3.79). Household where the reference person was retired spent, on average, €57.52 per week on Medical. This was equivalent to 8.9% of their overall expenditure. See Table 2.13.

As a proportion of money spent on Food Consumed at Home, households where the reference person was retired spent the most on Uncooked Meat & Fish (18.7%) and Fresh Fruit & Vegetables (13.5%). Households where the reference person was employed spent the most on Takeaways (9.8%) while other households, where the reference person was unemployed/student/on home duties spent the most on Sugars, Confectionary & Snacks (10.7%) and Soft Drinks (5.8%). See Figure 2.8.

Households in the Eastern and Midland region had the highest expenditure

Households in the Eastern and Midland region had the highest average weekly expenditure in 2022-2023 at €1,088.36. Households in the Eastern and Midland region had the highest expenditure for eight of the nine commodity groups. Households in the Northern and Western region spent the most on Transport (€155.05). See Table 2.14.

Households in the Eastern and Midland region spent €212.68 on average per week on Housing. This is equivalent to nearly a fifth (19.5%) of their overall expenditure. Households in the Eastern and Midland region spent on average €76.96 on Mortgage Payments and €63.47 on Rent. Households in the Northern and Western region spent the least on Housing at €152.38. Households in this region spent on average €47.55 on Mortgage Payments and €41.77 on Rent. See Table 2.15 and PxStat Table HBS06.

Households in the Eastern and Midland region spent the least (€136.24) on Transport. See Table 2.14. Households in the Northern and Western region spent the most on Motor Fuel & Lubricants (€51.61) while households in the Southern region spent the most (€49.42) on Vehicles (net of trade-in). Households in Eastern and Midland region spent the most on Bus, Luas, Rail & Taxi (€6.02) and Other Transport (€16.81). This expenditure item includes non-package flights. See PxStat Table HBS06.

Households in the Eastern and Midland region spent considerably more on Pension Contributions (€61.61), Holidays (€59.44), and Sports & Leisure Activities (€28.23) than those in the other regions. See Table 2.16.