The biggest item of spending in the "shopping basket" of Bulgarians for 2017 was food according data from an analysis of Eurostat financial characteristics of household consumption in the EU.

In this indicator, our country is in the company of Romania, Latvia and Estonia, where "food" is the most important indicator in household consumption expenditure.

The total consumer expenditure of Bulgarians on various items, was 82 percent of the total 100, of which nearly a third, or 30 percent, were spent on food and non-alcoholic beverages.

The second largest item in the cost of Bulgarians were finance allocated for maintenance of housing, water, electricity, gas, heating supplies or other solid fuels - about 15 percent.

For transport and social security, Bulgarians spent about 7 per cent of their income. For apparel and shoes, as well as for furnishing and maintaining your home, as well as for alcohol and cigarettes - 4.2 per cent.

For healthcare the Bulgarians spent 5.4 percent, leisure time, cultural recreation, as well as for various types of communications - 4.4 percent and more.

In the structure of the total income of the Bulgarian in May the highest share is wages - 54.5 per cent. Income from all other social transfers / pensions, unemployment benefits, child allowances and other social benefits make up about 30 percent of the total household income in Bulgaria in 2017

When it comes to the items for long-term use, most households used the television - nearly 99 of the households in Bulgaria had one television and 30 per cent - two or more TV sets.

Half of Bulgarian households (over 52 percent) had one car and 5 percent two or more cars.

94 percent of Bulgarians have mobile phones, and fixed phones - 32 percent.

Household consumption patterns in the EU vary and largely depend on the level of income, cultural habits and geographical location of the countries, Eurostat analyzes. However, most of the household spending in most EU households was on home maintenance: water, electricity, gas or other heating (excluding home purchase).

The next biggest item of European spending was for transport - 13 per cent. About 12 percent were spent on food by the average European.

Next-largest costs for Europeans were for "restaurants and hotels" and "recreation and culture" with shares of about 9 percent, according to the analysis.

The largest share of home spending in Finland was nearly 30 percent, Denmark 29 percent, Britain 27 percent, Sweden 26 percent and others.
The most wasteful in spending on restaurants and hotels were the residents of Malta - 19 percent, Cyprus - 17 percent and Spain - 16 percent.

The situation with our neighbors is the following - in Greece the highest share of 20% is spent on home maintenance, about 17% for food and 16% for hotels and restaurants.

In Romania, the most significant (similar to Bulgaria) is the cost of food - 28 per cent, the home spends about 22 per cent of household incomes, and the third largest item is transport costs - 12 per cent.

In 2017, Denmark was the most expensive Member State in the "restaurants and hotels" sphere - 51% above the EU average, for "food" - also 50% above the EU average for "recreation and culture" 48 per cent above the EU average.

Ireland was the most expensive Member State for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products - 74 per cent above the EU average.

Luxembourg was the most expensive country in the EU for housing, water, electricity and gas - 63% above the EU average.

Greece was the leader in communications - 54 percent above the EU average, and Sweden was the most expensive for "clothing and footwear" - 34 percent above the EU average, Eurostat analyzes.

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