ACRONYMS National Statistics Institute
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26 June 2025

Household Budget Survey (HBS)

Year 2024. Final results

Main results

  • Average household expenditure increased by 4.4% in 2024, to 34,044 euros. Average expenditure per person increased by 3.9% to 13,626 euros.
  • The groups where the average expenditure per household increased the most were Education services and Recreation, sport and culture. The groups where it decreased the most were Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and Furniture and household goods and articles for the current maintenance of the household.
  • Households with the lowest expenditure (quintile 1) dedicated 60.2% of their budget to Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and Food and non-alcoholic beverages. Households that spend the most (quintile 5) dedicated more than a third of their budget (33.9%) to Transport, Restaurants and hotels, and Leisure and culture.
  • The autonomous community with the highest expenditure per capita in 2024 was País Vasco (15,504 euros). Extremadura registered the lowest, with 11,398 euros.

Evolution of expenditure

Average expenditure per home was 34,044 euros in 2024, a 4.4% increase as compared with the previous year.

In turn, the average expenditure per person was 13,626 euros, with an increase of 3.9%.

Mean consumption expenditures1 and annual rates. 2024

1 Average expenditures and their distribution by group are presented in current terms for each year.

Average household expenditure increased in most of the groups. The groups with the highest growth were those with a low weight in total expenditure, and were as follows:

  • Education services, with an annual rate of 13.9%. This group has a weight of 1.6% of total household expenditure.
  • Recreational activities, sport and culture, with a variation of 13.1% and a weight of 5.0% in expenditure. The average expenditure per household was 1,692 euros, 196 more than in 2023.
  • Health, with a rate of 10.6%, and a weight of 4.0% of household expenditure.
  • Insurance and financial services, up 9.2%. This new expenditure group accounted for 3.7% of total expenditure.
  • Clothing and footwear, with a rate of 8.5% due to growth in both clothing and footwear, and with a weight of 4.2%. Households spent 1,432 euros, 112 more than in 2023.

On the other hand, the groups in which average spending per household decreased were:

  • Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, with a variation of -5.4%.
  • Furniture, household goods and items for everyday household maintenance, with a rate of -3.9%.
  • Personal care, social protection, and miscellaneous goods and services, with a rate of -0.9%.
Mean consumption expenditure per household, structure (%), annual rate and absolute difference by expenditure groups. 2024

In terms of the distribution of household expenditure, almost 60% was concentrated into three main groups:

  • Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, with almost a third of the total household budget (32.4%).
  • Food and non-alcoholic beverages,which accounted for 15.8% of the budget. Consumption of Meat (3.6% of total expenditure), Bread and cereals (2.1%), Milk, cheese and eggs (2.0%), Fish (1.8%), Legumes, vegetables, and potatoes (1.8%), and Fruit (1.5%) were the most significant.
  • Transportation, on which expenditure accounted for 11.4% of the total household budget.

Expenditure by type of household

Household type is a differentiating element in terms of expenditure level. Households formed by a couple with children had, on average, the highest expenditure in 2024, with 43,163 euros (1,824 more than in the previous year).

In contrast, the households that recorded the lowest spending were those made up of a single person aged 65 or over (with an average of 22,081 euros) and single-person households with someone less than 65 years of age (22,226 euros).

All categories increased their expenditure over the previous year. The largest increase was in households consisting of one adult with children, with a rate of 6.2% (1,815 euros more than the previous year), while the smallest increases were in other household types and in single-person households under 65 (2.4% and 2.8%, respectively).

Mean consumption expenditure per household, annual rate and absolute difference by household type. 2024

Consumption according to household spending level (spending quintiles)

All five groups of households, according to their level of expenditure, increased compared to the previous year.

Those in the first quintile had the highest increase, with a rate of 10.9%, an increase of 1,731 euros compared to 2023.

In contrast, those in the fifth quintile recorded the lowest increase of 1.9% (1,063 euros more than in 2023).

Mean consumption expenditure per household, annual rate and absolute difference according to quantile2. 2024

2Households have been ranked by their Average Equivalent Expenditure (AEE). This indicator is calculated as household expenditure divided by its number of consumption units according to the modified OECD equivalence scale, which weights the primary breadwinner 1, 0.5 for other members aged 14 or over, and 0.3 for those under 14, allowing for comparisons of households of different sizes. Ranked by AEE, households have been grouped into five equal-sized groups. The first group (quintile 1) contains the 20% of households with the lowest average equivalent expenditure, and so on down to the 20% of households with the highest expenditure (quintile 5).

With regard to the distribution of consumption among the different expenditure groups, 20% of the households with the lowest expenditure (quintile 1) dedicated more than 60.2% of their budget to Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, and Food and non-alcoholic beverages.

For their part, the 20% of households with the highest spending (quintile 5) allocated just over 40% to this type of expenditure (40.1%).

On the other hand, the 20% of households with the highest spending allocated just over a third of their budget (33.9%) to Transportation, restaurants and accommodation services, and recreational activities, sports, and culture, compared to 15.9% of households with the lowest spending.

Structure of consumption expenditure by quintiles and expenditure groups. 2024

Percentages

Results by autonomous communities

In 2024, the Autonomous Communities with the greatest average expenditure per person were País Vasco (15,504 euros), Comunidad de Madrid (15,108) and Cataluña (14,746).

Conversely, Extremadura (11,398 euros), Andalucía (11,865), and Castilla-La Mancha (11,921) recorded the lowest average expenditure per person.

The average expenditure per person in País Vasco was 13.8% higher than the national average, while that of Extremadura was 16.3% below the national average.

Mean consumption expenditure per person and index on the mean by autonomous communities and cities of residence. 2024

Data revisions and updates

The data published today are final. All the results of this operation are available at INEBase.

The comparability of the information for 2024 with that of the previous year has been done by recalculating the data for 2023 to adapt it to the new classification of goods and services. In this comparability, it is necessary to take into account the significant changes introduced in the survey in 2024 (see methodological note), so that on occasions and depending on the breakdown, variations may be greater than in other years.

On the other hand, in order to obtain a comparable series, in a second phase the detailed results prior to 2023 will be revised, both due to the change in the classification of goods and services and to the new population estimates derived from the 2021 Census that were incorporated in the year 2023, which will allow for homogeneous series with the new COICOP 2018 from the year 2016.

The homogeneous series for said period (2016-2024) will be available to users on the INE website (www.ine.es).

Key developments in EPF 2024

New classification of goods and services (United Nations COICOP 2018)

The Household Budget Survey 2024 today incorporates the new United Nations international classification of consumption, called COICOP 2018 (Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose).

This classification replaces the European ECOICOP classification that has been used in the survey since 2016, allowing for greater international comparability.

This new classification extends the previous 12 major expenditure groups to 13, so that, for the first time, expenditure on insurance and financial services is a separate group.

In addition, the former group 'Communications' is extended to 'Information and communications' in exchange for the reduction of group 09, which now only includes recreation, sport and culture.

The treatment of different consumption costs differs according to the frequency and magnitude of their occurrence.

With the change in the classification of goods and services, changes have been incorporated into some of them, with the aim of improving the accuracy of the resulting expenditure estimates. These changes affect the recording periods in which certain expenditures are claimed and the questionnaires in which they are recorded.

Changes in the collection of information

For the first time in 2024, the EPF will be collected by electronic devices, allowing controls to be introduced at the time of data collection and improving the quality of the operation.

Methodological note

The Household Budget Survey (HBS) provides annual information on the nature and destination of consumption expenditure, as well as on various characteristics relating to the living conditions of households.

Consumption expenditure refers both to the monetary flow that the household uses to pay for certain final consumption goods and services, and to the value of goods received as self-consumption, self-supply, salary in kind, free or subsidised meals and rent imputed to the dwelling in which the household resides (when it owns the dwelling or it has been assigned by other households or institutions). Expenditure is recorded at the time of acquisition, regardless of whether it is paid in cash or in instalments.

Type of survey:
Annual.
Population scope:
Private households.
Geographical scope:
Spanish territory.
Reference period for the results:
The calendar year.
Reference period of the information:
Varies according to type of expenditure (see methodology).
Sample size:
24,000 households (approx.).
Sample type:
Two-stage sampling with stratification of the first stage units.
Collection method:
Mixed with direct entry by the household and interviews with the household.

More information can be found in the methodology and the standardised methodology report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.

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