Inflation bor the wallets like this, compared to the pre-covid period, The expenditure for consumption of Italian families has decreased on average in real terms of over 9%, With the racing of the prices of recent years that has played a decisive role on the habits of Italians. The data emerge from a study conducted by the Consumption Training and Research Center (CRC) in collaboration with Assoutenti, which compared the Istat data relating to consumption and inflation recorded in Italy from 2019 to today. The average monthly expenditure of an Italian family went from approximately 2,560 euros in 2019 to 2,738 euros in 2023, the latest data available, with a nominal growth of almost +7%.
However, in this five -year period the overall inflation recorded in our country was 16.1%, with retail prices that grew at a more sustained rhythm than consumption. – notes the CRC – this means that In real terms, the expenditure for families consumption has been reduced by -9.1%, a trend that unfortunately also continued in 2024: If you analyze the latest Istat data on retail sales, it turns out that last year families spent their food and non -food purchases 0.7% more than the previous year, but have reduced the volumes of their purchases of -0.4%. Analyzing the various items, it turns out that food expenditure, compared to the pre -covid period, drops in real terms of -8.6%, to which is added a -1% for the volume of food sales in 2024. Among the products affected by the heaviest spending cuts there are oils and fats (-36% in the face of a total inflation, for this item, of 40%, due to the consequences of the war in war in war in war in war Ukraine), fish products (-22%), vegetables (-21.5%). Chocolate and sweets resist (-0.4%) while the expenditure for coffee and tea grows by 12.7%, an indispensable daily habit for millions of families – says the training and research center on consumption.
Since 2019, the Italians have also reduced the expenditure for clothing and footwear, down in real terms of -16.5%, while a drastic cut is recorded on the front of home spending (-33%), a sector which, thanks to the dear-energy, recorded an inflation of 44%in recent years, but on which superbonus and various eco-incentives have intervened that have demolished the expense for work and renovations. The real expenditure of the families for transport (purchase of cars, fuels, maintenance, etc.) descends -15.8%, and if you take care less, with the expense for health by -5%, Italians do not give up holidays or eat outside: Compared to the pre -covid period, the expenditure for receptive and catering services marks a growth of +2.8% – concludes the CRC. Data that, explains Assoutenti, must be read and interpreted not with a view to a generalized deprivation of goods and services by citizens, but in that of a profound modification in the purchase habits of Italians.
“First the Covid who depleted the income of millions of families, then the dear-bralle and the inflation of the stars who raged between 2022 and 2023, were elements that forced citizens and radically modify their economic choices, not only reducing non-indispensable expenses, but putting the price and savings as main factors that orient purchases. – explains the president Gabriele Melluso – It is no coincidence that in recent years there has been a boom in food discount stores whose sales, according to Istat, have recorded a total growth of 40% between 2019 and 2024 Large slice of the population has rediscovered the second -hand market in recent years, “concludes Melluso.