European households’ consumption expenditures in the decade 2000–2009

Abstract

Paper deals with analysis of consumption expenditures of European households at the beginning and at the end of decade 2000–2009. The aim is to evaluate the impacts of economic development on the life situation of households from a specific point of view. The period represents one phase of the economic cycle in Europe – it is characterized by economic boom as well as declines leading to current crisis. Data was obtained from the Statistical Office of the European Communities. Subjects of analysis were individual European countries and groups EU 27 and EU 15. Using the cluster analysis method it was found that there are certain groups of countries with similar structures of household expenditures. These groups were relatively stable over time and corresponded to the traditional perception of similarity between countries in terms of geographical, cultural, political, etc. factors. However, some exceptions occurred – e.g. position of Ireland close to South European countries or Estonia close to Central European countries. Results serve as a basis for evaluation of economic development and can be also used as an indicator of impacts of economic development on people’s living situation.

Keywords

• consumption expenditures
• household consumption
• EU households
• living situation
• cluster analysis