No. 1033 - Demographics and consumption: evolution and composition of household expenditure in Italy
Over the past decades, Italy has experienced major demographic changes, including population ageing and a decline in both average household size and in the share of couples with children. This paper analyses the impact of these developments on household consumption expenditure and on the composition of household consumption basket, using data from the Italian Household Budget Survey (HBS) over the period 1997–2023.
The decline in household size and in the share of couples with children contributed to the reduction in average household expenditure in real terms, while it mitigated the drop in individual consumption, reflecting the lower ability of smaller households to exploit economies of scale; by contrast, the role of population ageing was limited. Changes in household structure also affected the composition of the consumption basket, with an increasing share of spending on housing and utilities, which weigh more heavily on the consumption of smaller households.
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