Greece and Cyprus are among the EU countries that recorded the greatest decreases in household consumption expenditure in 2020 compared to 2019 reports Eurostat.
According to Eurostat, the largest decrease within the EU was recorded in Malta (around -22%), followed by Croatia, Spain, Greece (all around -16%) and Cyprus (under 15%).
Meanwhile, the smallest decreases were recorded in Slovakia and Denmark (both around -2%), followed by Lithuania and Poland (both around -3%).
In 2020, household consumption expenditure in the EU decreased by an unprecedented 8% compared with 2019. In fact, all the EU Member States recorded a decrease in household consumption expenditure.
This is the largest annual reduction recorded since the time series started and it is due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing measures, government restrictions imposed on the movement of people and non-essential economic activities severely affected household consumption expenditure.
The largest decreases in household consumption expenditure were observed for ‘Restaurants and hotels’ (-38% compared with 2019), ‘Clothing and footwear, ’Transport’ and ‘Recreation and culture’ (all -17%). On the other hand, the largest increases were recorded for ‘Food and non-alcoholic beverages’ (+3%) and ‘Communications’ (+2%).
