Italian families spend 1,200 euros every month on food, bills and petrol

The “obligatory” expenses incurred monthly in 2023 by Italian families – i.e. those which approximately concern the purchase of food, fuel and bills – reached 1,191 euros, equal to 56 percent of the total expenditure which, instead, in absolute value it stood at 2,128 euros. An incidence decreasing compared to the 2022 figure (57.1 percent), but decidedly higher than the shares we recorded before the advent of the pandemic. This was stated by the CGIA Research Office.

After the Covid period and the energy crisis that characterized the three-year period 2020/2022, the artisans of Mestre explain, the “obligatory” expenses have stabilized at higher thresholds. Of the 1,191 euros of monthly expenditure, 526 euros are attributable to the purchase of food and non-alcoholic drinks, 374 for home maintenance, bills and condominium expenses and 291 for transport, i.e. for filling up the car and for subscriptions on bus/tram/metro/train. To these 1,191 euros must be added 937 euros which, however, are attributable to the so-called complementary expenditure which raises the overall national average expenditure to 2,128 euros. In the South the incidence of fixed expenses is close to 60%.

Analyzing the situation by geographical area, strong differences in spending emerge between the North and the South of the country. If in the North-West the overall monthly expenditure in 2023 amounted to 2,337 euros, in the South it reached 1,758 euros (-24.7 percent). As regards “obligatory” expenditure, however, it is the South that records the highest incidence of the latter on total expenditure in Italy. If in the North-West and North-East the share of the total is around 55 percent, in the South it rises to 59.4 percent.

This result is attributable to the fact that, in particular, the average expenditure on food in the South has no equal among other geographical areas. If in monetary terms the most important average monthly expenditure in 2023 for food, bills and fuel was recorded by families in the North – in Trentino Alto Adige with 1,462 euros, in Lombardy with 1,334 euros and in Friuli Venezia Giulia with 1,312 euros – as mentioned Previously, the incidence of obligatory expenditure on the total was higher in the southern regions – Calabria with 63.4 percent, Campania with 60.8 and Basilicata with 60.2.

A trend that also worries artisans and traders, as it is clear that even the turnover of small artisan and commercial businesses is negatively affected. “The crisis that has affected many artisan workshops and just as many neighborhood shops is certainly attributable to taxes, high rental costs, the very aggressive competition practiced by large-scale distribution and the strong expansion of online commerce, but, above all, by the decline in consumption which, unfortunately, in the last 10 years has affected the most economically fragile families and those who constitute the so-called middle class” explains the CGIA.

For the Cgia of Mestre, it cannot be ruled out that, with “obligatory” expenses now capable of “draining” well over half of total family spending, the next Christmas purchases will suffer a slowdown compared to what happened in 2023. Last year, in fact, estimates indicate that in Italy the expenditure on gifts to put under the tree amounted to just over 11 billion euros. This year, however, it should be around 10 billion euros (-9 percent). The reasons for this contraction are to be found in families’ lower willingness to spend, in the face of the economic difficulties felt in recent months, and in the fact that more and more people are anticipating the purchase of Christmas presents at the end of November, taking advantage of the discounts offered by Black Friday.