Average household spending in Spain rose 7.9% in 2022 due to the impact of inflation and stood at 31,568 euros, according to the family budget survey published this Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The figure exceeds pre-pandemic metrics by 4%.
The increase in average household spending was due, above all, to higher spending on restaurants and hotels (29.1%, 2,953 euros), leisure and culture (18.6%, 1,543 euros) and transport (17.5% , 3,794 euros). The recovery of post-covid consumption and the general rise in prices have been felt in the pockets of families.
In any case, housing -rent and mortgage-, water, electricity, gas and other fuels continued to be the main items for families (10,243 euros) after increasing by 3.5%, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages (5,050 euros), which rose by 5.1%. The war in Ukraine and the rise in energy prices marked the rise in food prices.
In this context, the average cost per person was 12,780 euros, with an increase of 8.5% compared to 2021. The variation without taking into account the effect of prices was 2.5%.
As is the case with the rise in prices month by month, in some autonomies the cost of living has had a higher impact. The autonomous communities with the highest average expenditure per person in 2022 were País Vasco (15,103 euros), Comunidad de Madrid (14,326) and Comunidad Foral de Navarra (14,190). Catalonia has been a little further behind, with 13,478 euros and 6% above the average.
Canarias (10,698 euros), Castilla-La Mancha (10,959) and Extremadura (11,134) registered the lowest average expenses per person. A person from Extremadura spent 13% less in 2022 than the Spanish average.
