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Household Budget

€837.47
Average Weekly Household Expenditure (up 3.3%)

The Household Budget Survey (HBS) is a large scale national household survey undertaken every five years. The main purpose of the HBS is to give a comprehensive picture of household expenditure over a whole range of consumer goods and services and to update the weighting basis of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). HBS surveys have been carried out periodically in Ireland since 1951. This chapter presents the 2015-2016 results with comparative information from previous years.

Table 9.1 Average weekly household expenditure by livelihood of reference person
         €
Livelihood of reference person
Commodity GroupSelf-employedEmployee1UnemployedRetiredOtherAll livelihood status
Food147.49140.8686.8696.53100.03123.28
Alcoholic drink and tobacco28.4632.6025.7319.9923.7328.00
Clothing and footwear41.3141.4521.7021.5023.5933.65
Fuel and light46.0939.8829.8836.8735.4138.56
Housing178.47216.47113.7878.22116.67164.36
Household non-durable goods18.3619.9810.9611.5212.7716.51
Household durable goods32.7833.4715.5820.2318.8627.50
Transport168.02152.1962.0690.3473.31124.39
Miscellaneous goods, services and other expenditure359.96355.02121.23196.23163.62281.21
Total1,020.951,031.93487.78571.43567.99837.47
1Includes Community Employment Scheme.
Source: CSO

Households where the reference person was an Employee spent the most on Housing (€216.47) in 2015-2016 while households where the reference person was Retired spent the least (€78.22). This reflects the tenure composition of these households. Households where the reference person was Self-employed spent most (€168.02) on Transport in 2015-2016 while households where the reference person was Unemployed spent the least (€62.06). 

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Percentage distribution
of average weekly
household expenditure
by household composition
1 adult1 adult with children2 adults2 adults with 1-3 children3+ adultsOther households with children
Food13.316.21513.815.415.8
Alcoholic drink
and tobacco
3.53.23.92.34.12.7
Clothing and
footwear
34.33.63.74.75.2
Fuel and light6.66.25.143.94
Housing24.727.117.423.51519.9
Household
non-durable goods
1.62.51.922.12.2
Household
durable goods
3.33.83.33.33.13.5
Transport13.19.615.914.116.213.9
Miscellaneous goods,
services and other
expenditure
30.927.13433.335.432.9

Interactive tables: Statbank link

Other households with children spent the most on Food (€184.29), Clothing and Footwear (€60.76), Fuel and light (€47.33), Household non-durable goods (€25.48) and Household durable goods (€40.44).

Households consisting of 3+ adults spent most on Alcoholic drink and tobacco (€47.21), Transport (€186.35) and Miscellaneous goods, services and other expenditure (€407.29).

Households with 2 adults with 1-3 children spent the most on Housing (€244.50), with more than half this expenditure on mortgages (€129.85)

Lone parent households had the highest expenditure for rent at €98.15. 

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Table 9.2 Average weekly household expenditure on items included in the commodity group Miscellaneous goods, services and other expenditure by location
                                                                                                                                                                                       €
Expenditure categoryUrbanRuralState
Medical 40.7845.4742.14
Phone19.1221.9719.95
Charitable donations 3.514.353.75
Sports and leisure activities18.4616.3817.85
Television116.2112.3115.08
Betting and lotteries3.523.623.55
Education and training20.2613.1418.19
Holidays236.3425.1433.08
Pension contributions 36.7139.3237.47
Childcare 11.169.4410.66
Money given to those outside of household7.9914.829.98
Reading materials7.238.137.49
Remainder59.0369.2962.01
Total280.32283.37281.21
1Includes television bundle subscriptions.
2Includes package holidays, money spent abroad on holidays and holiday accommodation (foreign and domestic).
Source: CSO

Overall Rural households spent more than Urban households on the Miscellaneous goods, services and other expenditure commodity group (€283.37 compared with €280.32).

Rural households spent more on Money given to those outside of household (€14.82), Medical (€45.47), Phone (€21.97), Pension contributions (€39.32), Charitable donations (€4.35), Betting and lotteries (€3.62) and Reading materials (€8.13).

However, Urban households spent more on Holidays (€36.34), Education and training (€20.26)Sports and leisure activities (€18.46), Television (€16.21) and Childcare (€11.16).

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Table 9.3 Percentage of households using select household facilities and appliances, 2004-2005, 2009-2010 and 2015-2016
                     %
 2004-20052009-20102015-2016
Household facilities   
Piped gas31.340.137.7
Electricity100.099.9100.0
Telephone (fixed)85.970.265.9
Mobile phone84.396.097.4
Double glazing76.189.290.9
Triple glazing**2.8
Burglar alarm32.639.144.1
Internet access42.265.872.9
Garage34.227.427.9
Patio doors44.557.957.6
Motor car - one only45.849.049.5
Motor car - 2 or more32.831.631.2
Motor cycle1.41.61.3
Second home5.14.23.1
    
Household appliances   
Vacuum cleaner95.594.594.9
Tumble dryer61.766.264.8
Washing machine95.396.397.5
Dishwasher50.163.264.7
Refrigerator43.426.125.6
Refrigerator with freezer63.479.481.6
Separate deep freeze35.435.336.1
Microwave oven86.091.091.7
Television set99.297.296.5
  One TV set only50.532.441.0
  Two or more TV sets48.764.854.5
Home computer56.277.380.8
  One home computer only**29.9
  Two or more home computers**50.9
Games console29.238.938.1
* Not included in reference year.
Source: CSO

In 2015-2016, less than two thirds (65.9%) of households had a fixed telephone compared with just under 86% ten years earlier. Almost 73% of households reported having Internet access, up from nearly 66% in 2009-2010 and just 42.2% in 2004-2005.

In 2015-2016, nearly 81% of all households reported having at least one Home computer, compared with 77.3% and 56.2% as recorded in the 2009-2010 and 2004-2005 surveys respectively. In 2015-2016, more than half (50.9%) of all households indicated having Two or more home computers. 

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