Albanian families, record spending from the budget to feed themselves in 2022, an indicator of poverty

2023-11-23 12:26:00, Ekonomi CNA

Albanian families, record spending from the budget to feed themselves in 2022,

Illustrative photo

An Albanian family in 2022 spent 39.7% of total expenses on food alone, according to INSTAT data.

Although down compared to the previous year (41.3%), other Eurostat data show that the budget we spend on food is the highest in Europe.

This is an indirect indicator of poverty, as spending on food is an essential existential need.

Eurostat data show that an average European family spends 13.6% of the total on food, or three times less than in Albania.

Even in the countries of the region, this indicator is lower, where the lowest level is Serbia (24.1%), Montenegro (27.2%), North Macedonia (30.6% for 2019), Bosnia and Herzegovina (32.2%). ). Data for Kosovo are missing, but previous indicators were lower than Albania.

Spending a significant portion of the budget leaves less room for other activities. For example, for entertainment and culture, a European family spends 8.4% of the budget, while an Albanian family only spends 2.7%.

Europe spends 8.5% on restaurants, while Albania spends 7.3%.

The budget for communication is higher, with 3.9% in Albania against the European average of 2.3% due to more expensive prices.

Europe spends more on housing, water, electricity, paid rent, with 24.1% of the total, against 9.8% of Albanian families.

europe

According to Eurostat, in 2022, total household consumption expenditure in the European Union increased by 4.7% compared to 2021, while it was 1% higher compared to 2019.

Compared to 2021, 2022 saw a significant increase in household consumption for goods and services that fell unprecedentedly in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, spending on restaurants and hotels increased by 33.8%, on entertainment and culture by 14.7%, on clothing and footwear by 11.5%, and on transportation by 4.7%.

Household consumption increased for all categories, except for food and non-alcoholic beverages (-3.1%) and alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics (-1.0%).

Although household consumption exceeded pre-COVID levels in 2022, some categories still lag behind pre-COVID figures. Specifically, in 2022, household consumption was still below the 2019 volumes for transport (-7.8%), restaurants and hotels (-2.4%) and education (-1.5%)./ Monitor