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Fall in household consumption accelerates

Oct 29, 2020 | News

(29 October 2020) – In the 2nd quarter of 2020, when Member States continued to implement the COVID-19 containment measures, household real consumption per capita dropped by 10.7% in the euro area, after a decrease of 3.3% in the previous quarter.

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This decline is the highest since the beginning of the time series in 1999. Household real income per capita decreased in the second quarter of 2020 by 3.2%, after an increase of 0.5% in the first quarter.

The drop in the individual consumption expenditure of households was the most pronounced in Ireland (-21.7%) and Spain (-20.3%). At the same time, the gross disposable income decreased in all Member States except in Denmark and Ireland.

Eight Member States recorded a decrease of the household investment rate, with the highest declines in Ireland (-3.1 pp), France (-1.3 pp) and Italy (-1.1 pp). On the contrary, the investment rate of households increased in Finland, Sweden and Portugal, and remained stable in Denmark.

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