Average income of 4,454 lei per household in Q3 2018; expenditures 87.4% of income

The total monthly average income per household accounted for 4.454 lei in the third quarter of 2018, and the total expenditures averaged 3,891 lei per month per household, accounting for 87.4% of the total income, according to data released by the the National Institute of Statistics (INS), published on Thursday. 

According to the same source, the total monthly average income accounted for 1,713 lei per person and the total average expenditure amounted to 1,497 lei /person, for households in Romania. 

The money income accounted for an average 4,090 lei per household per month (1,573 lei per person) and the in-kind income accounted for 364 lei per household (140 lei per person). Salaries and the other associated earnings formed the most important source of income (67.0% of total household income). 

The income from social benefits (18.0%), agricultural incomes (2.2%), incomes from independent non-agricultural activities (2.5%), ownership and sale of households' assets (1.1%) and incomes in kind (8.2%), mainly the equivalent of consumption of agri-food products from own resources (6.8%) also contributed to the total income of a household. 

The INS specified that the residential environment influences the differences in level and, especially, the structure between the incomes of households in urban areas and those in rural areas. 

Household spend mainly on food, non-food goods, services and transfers to the public and private administrations and on the social security budgets in the form of taxes, fees, contributions, and coverage of needs related to household production (food for livestock and poultry, labour costs for household production, sowing products, veterinary services etc.). 

Expenditure on investment, in the purchase or construction of dwellings, the purchase of land and the equipment necessary for household production, purchase of shares etc. have a rather small share in total household expenditure (only 0.6%). 

The INS points out that the residential environment determines some peculiarities in terms of the size and structure of the total consumption expenditure. 

According to the classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP), food and non-alcoholic beverages held an average of 31.8% of household consumption in the third quarter of 2018. 

The INS also showed that the total income includes the total cash receipts from different sources of origin, in the case of which there is no such restitution obligation and income in kind (transposed in lei). Total expenditures include the total expenditures, regardless of the destination and the counter-value of consumption from the households' own resources.