Albanian consumers spend almost half of the money they have available on food.

According to INSTAT data, in 2019, about 41.1% of expenditures went to food. This weight is highest in the region and in Europe and is a direct indicator of low incomes and relatively high prices. Kosovo spends 34% on food, Northern Macedonia 33%, Bosnia 29%, Montenegro 23.5, Serbia 23.6%, according to Eurostat.

Eurostat has also recently published new data on the structure of household expenditures for 2019. Unlike the region, European households spend less on food. For 2019, this weight is 13%, although increasing by 1 percentage point compared to the previous year. The European country that spends the most on food is Romania (26%) and the United Kingdom the least (only 8%)

European households have the largest budget for "Expenditures for housing, water, electricity, rent paid", with 23.5% of the total, compared to 10.1% in Albania.

By spending less on food, families in Europe are left with more income to entertain and travel. Europeans spend more on entertainment and culture, with 8.7% of the total, compared to 3.8% in Albania, Europe also spends 13% of the budget on transport, while Albania less than 6%. Even for restaurants the ratio is 8.7% for Europe and 4.9% for Albania.

But, if there is one expense for which Albanians are not spared, it is the clothes, with 5.2% of the total, versus 4.6% of the European average. The country that spends the most on clothing in Europe is Romania (6.8%) of the total, followed by Estonia (6.3%), Italy (5.9%) and Iceland (3.3%).

For health, expenditures are almost similar (4.3% and 4.4%), while a year ago it was Albanians who spent more for health, but in 2019, this category has increased for Europeans.

Education is much more expensive for Albanians than for Europeans. A family has to spend 3.1% of the total to educate children, while for a European family, this weight is less than 1% (0.9%).

Albanians also spend more on communication (3.7%, compared to 2.4%).

Source: Monitor