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Annual expenditure. In relation to the activity of the main breadwinner

Average annual expenditure. In relation to the activity of the main breadwinner Catalonia Total
Average expenditure
Per household (euros) Per person (euros) Per unit of consumption (euros) Total expenditure (millions of euros)
2024 37,409 14,746 21,906 117,770.3
2023 34,259 (b) Break in time series 13,592 (b) Break in time series 20,147 (b) Break in time series 107,219.2 (b) Break in time series
2022 33,085 13,479 19,894 102,333.0
2021 31,710 12,856 18,997 97,366.0
2020 29,235 11,872 17,549 89,859.3
2019 32,916 13,414 19,833 100,969.9
2018 32,586 13,270 19,626 98,870.7
2017 31,619 12,833 19,028 94,647.6
2016 30,446 12,309 18,297 90,344.1
2015 30,175 12,164 18,082 89,005.7
2014 29,778 11,970 17,809 87,678.7
2013 29,308 11,710 17,451 86,316.4
2012 29,962 11,863 17,734 88,038.9
2011 31,421 12,333 18,478 91,655.1
2010 31,581 12,286 18,430 90,996.9
2009 33,336 12,855 19,317 94,847.9
2008 34,619 13,250 19,952 96,845.1
2007 33,918 12,905 19,447 92,541.3
2006 33,221 12,570 18,958 88,225.5
Source:
2006-2015: Idescat, based on the INE's survey of family budgets, base 2006.
2016-2024: Idescat, based on the INE Household Budget Survey (base 2016).
Notes:
The data published in 2023 include the population figures from the Census 2021. This change implies a break in the data series published so far, preventing homogeneous comparisons.
The data corresponding to the years 2006-2012 have been revised with the updated reference populations, from the Population and Housing Census 2011.
(b) Break in time series.

Last update: October 29, 2025.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Family consumption
Economic activity of families that consists of the utilisation of goods and services to satisfy their material needs.
Family expenditure
Monetary volume that a household and all of its members use to pay for what are considered consumer goods and services for use in the same household or to be transferred free of charge to other households or institutions.
Household
Set of people habitually living in the same dwelling. There are two types of households: one-person households, made up of one person, and multi-person households, made up of two or more people.
Consumer unit
A different accountable concept of members of a household which is obtained by applying adjustment factors to expenditure, which enables us to weight different levels of need between families of different sizes and composition.

Methodological aspects

The data on family expenditure was obtained from the Family budget survey (EPF) conducted by the INE. Family income is expressed in annual averages per household, person and consumption unit.

Household consumer expenditure represents the main economic activity of the population, and is an approach to the concept of private consumption as the most important component of a country's aggregate demand. The main aim of the statistics on household consumer expenditure is to produce information on the size, structure and distribution of this expense, as well as inter-annual variations of the aggregate consumption. The consumer expenditure recorded in the EPF refers to the monetary flow that household economies spend on the purchase of consumer products, as well as all non-monetary expenditure that is generated on the basis of supply, self-sufficiency, any salary in kind and imputed housing rent.

The expenditure can be calculated per person in the household and unit of consumption in the household. In order to obtain the units of consumption we use the so-called equivalence scales, which turn household members into units of consumption. These equivalence scales are applied because economies of scale are generated when a household shares certain goods and services, which means that the needs of a household with n persons are sometimes lower than the needs of a household with just one person.

In this case we use the modified OECD scale, which gives the following values to each member of the household:

  • Main provider: 1
  • Adult older than 13: 0.5
  • Child 13 and under: 0.3

The total expenditure of a household is divided by the number of units of consumption in the household and we thus obtain the equivalent expenditure per unit of consumption. Each member of a household is assigned the equivalent expenditure of his or her household.

From 2024 onwards, it has been included the new United Nations International Classification of Consumption known as ECOICOP 2018 (European Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose), which replaces the classification that had been used since 2016.

For further information about these statistics, you may check the methodology.