Shocking! The average Hungarian spends 2 EUR on food every day!

Hungarians spend almost as much on accommodation as on food, and they spend as much on alcohol-free beverages than on alcoholic drinks.

Significant regional differences

The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO) did an analysis on previous year’s data about how Hungarians spent their money in 2017 – reported hvg.hu.

According to the data, an average Hungarian spends 700 EUR on food every year which means that on average, Hungarians buy food for less than 2 EUR per day. Speaking about drinks, Hungarians spend

more than 100 EUR per year on alcoholic beverages

while only 65 EUR on non-alcoholic ones. Of course, tap water is not included in the calculations.

On accommodation, Hungarians spend 60 EUR per month; however, the analysis does not divide between those who pay rent and those who own a flat. According to hvg.hu’s calculations, the average monthly expenses of the Hungarians include:

• 58 EUR on food, 6 EUR on alcohol-free and 9 EUR on alcoholic drinks,
• 33 EUR on energy (electricity, gas and fuel) and 13 EUR on water,
• 30 EUR on transport from which 22 EUR is spent on cars,
• TV, Internet, phone: 20 EUR
• Enterantinment and culture: 18 EUR
• Furniture, household device and household: 30 EUR
• Healthcare: 15 EUR from which approximately 10 EUR is spent on medicine.

Altogether people spend 3,161 EUR on consumption expenditures every year. Of course, differences among the regions of the country are significant regarding how much money people spend on goods not required for self-preservation. For example, on entertainment and culture people living in Budapest and Pest county spend 350 EUR per year, while those living in Western-Transdanubia spend only 200 EUR. The situation is quite similar in case of tourism, too. An average citizen living in Central-Hungary pays 200 EUR in restaurants and hotels, while those living in the Southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain spend only 100 EUR.

Hungarians spend more in the summer than during Christmas

As we reported last year, according to a national representative survey about Hungarian people’s customs concerning money spending, Hungarians do not pay extra sums in the two climactic periods — summer vacations and Christmas. Instead, there are several waves of spending in a year. The heating at the beginning of the year, the housing renewals in the spring and the beginning of the school year in autumn also mean further costs. The survey also highlighted that the summer holiday is the purpose on which Hungarians spend their money most gladly.

According to Cofidis’ survey, Hungarian families spend the

greatest sums on these things:

• vacation expenses (28%),
• the beginning of school (17%),
• renewal of housing (17%),
• clothing and accessories (13%),
• health expenses (8%),
• electronics (8%)
• entertainment (6%).

Hungarians also spend more in the summer than during Christmas. It can be explained by the fact that though Christmas presents affect more people, summer vacation is mostly the privilege of the richer families, so they tend to spend more on their holidays.

Furthermore, Hungarians spend more willingly on experience and enduring things. They like much less to spend on festivals or wedding gifts (50%). It is housing renewal (46%) and summer vacation (38%) that most likely make families exceed their planned funds. However, these are also the expenses that they are less likely to regret.