Changes in Patterns of Consumer Spending in European Households

Abstract

Consumption is an important concept in economics and many social sciences. The aim of the study is to compare consumption in European households in the years 2004–2020 and to identify groups of countries with similar consumption–expenditure structures. Statistical methods were used: trend analysis, cluster analysis. Between 2004 and 2019, the consumption expenditures of European households gradually increased. In all countries, spending on categories such as food, housing maintenance, and food and accommodation rose. Most countries also saw an increase in spending on other categories of consumer goods and services, although there were also countries where some types of spending decreased during the period under study. Our research grouped countries according to their consumption structure in 2004, 2019 and 2020. In Europe, several groups of countries can be distinguished according to their consumption structure. Similarities between EU countries’ consumption change through time. Ward’s clustering and k-means methods allowed to reduce a large number of countries to a few basic groups, which can be perceived as the subject and direction of further analysis.