People in Andalucía cut back on eating out and leisure to pay for food and housing

Andalusian households spent an average of 30,145.17 euros last year, according to data from the national institute of statistics (INE). This figure barely exceeds the one from 2023 (0.8%). Meanwhile, the average expenditure per household in Spain exceeded 34,000 euros, with year-on-year growth of 4.4%.

Of these 30,145.17 euros, Andalusians spent an average of 9,011.76 euros on housing and supplies, such as water, electricity or gas, which is practically 30% of the family budget. This represents an increase of 4% compared to 2023. At a national level, Spanish households spent 11,029 euros on housing and sevices in 2024, which represents 32.4% of all household spending and an increase of 6.1% compared to 2023.

The second most important item in household spending in Andalucía is groceries, accounting for 17.76% of the total (5,353.52 euros) last year. This represents a 2.9% increase compared to 2023. Food spending in Andalucía coincides with the national average. However, in Andalucía, it has risen more, almost three times, than in the country as a whole (1%). It is also the region where groceries took up a larger proportion of total expenditure (in Spain it is less than 16%, while for Andalusian households it represents almost 18%).

This means that housing and food account for almost half of all household expenditure in Andalucía, practically the same as in Spain as a whole. In addition, these are items that have increased both in the region and in the country as a whole. What differs is the context in which the increase in money spent on these two basic goods has taken place: while in Spain as a whole this has occurred in an environment of a general increase in spending, in Andalucía the household budget has increased four times less (the aforementioned 0.8% compared with 4.4% nationally).

In order to spend more on housing and at the supermarket, Andalusian households have had to cut back on other things. According to the INE, the first target was leisure, including recreational activities, sports and culture. The 1,291.30 euros Andalusians spent on average in this area in 2024 represents a year-on-year decrease of 7.6%. On the other hand, the national budget for these activities has increased by 13.1%, to almost 1,700 euros.

A similar situation has occurred with spending on eating out and hotels. In Andalucía, households reduced their budget by 6.7%, to 3,226.15 euros (equivalent to 10.7% of their total expenditure). By contrast, in the country, households spent 3,373.68 euros (almost 10% of their total outlay in 2024), 2% more than in 2023.

Andalusians have also cut back on their spending on alcoholic beverages: last year they spent almost 470 euros, 8% less than in 2023. Alcohol spending in Spain also dropped, but less (by 5.4%, to 447 euros).

In Andalucía, households also cut back on clothing and footwear. Last year they spent 1,255.40 euros on average, which represents a decrease of 1.8% compared to 2023. By contrast, in Spain as a whole, clothing and footwear accounted for 1,431.6 euros from the household budget, a figure that represents an increase of 8.5% compared to a year earlier.

In general throughout Spain, the amount spent on furniture and household items dropped, but while in Spain the decrease in the budget was 3.9%, in Andalucía it was 5.8%. The amount spent on personal care was also reduced throughout the country, but if in Spanish households the cut was only 0.9% year-on-year, in Malaga province the cut was 8.2%.

In two spending categories, the increase in Andalucía is smaller than in Spain overall. First, in information and communications, where the region's 0.2% rise to nearly 975 euros per year contrasts with the national increase of 4.8%, surpassing 1,100 euros. Second, in healthcare: here, the 4.7% increase in Andalusian households to an average of 1,215 euros compares with the 10.6% rise among Spanish households overall, reaching 1,377 euros.

What Andalucía does stand out for is the growth of the average household budget for educational services, which grew by 33.6% last year, to 386 euros, which is still below the 553 euros spent on average by families in Spain as a whole.