Consumption volume per capita in the EU

Since 2000, EU per capita consumption in value has grown with 21%, adjusted for inflation (using chain-linked volumes). This number includes EU household expenditure for all purposes. Large shares go to housing, water, electricity gas and other fuels (24% in 2022 for EU27), food (14% in 2022 for EU27) and transport (13% in 2022 for EU27). Looking at the consumption of (semi-) durable goods, the picture is more nuanced. Durable goods are designed to last for three years or more. Examples include vehicles, appliances, and furniture. Changes to durability can significantly impact consumer behaviour and economic trends over time. Semi-durable goods have a shorter lifespan than durable goods but are still used over an extended period. Examples include clothing and footwear. These goods also reflect changes in consumer preferences and technological advancements. Apart from a drop during the pandemic, the consumption of clothing and footwear follow the overall trend. Hence, the more households consume, the more they will spend on especially cloths and footwear. Clothing and footwear tend to have a shorter lifespan due to the fast-paced nature of fashion and consumer habits. However, there is a growing movement towards sustainable fashion, which aims to increase the longevity of clothing through better quality materials and timeless designs.

The consumption of furnishing and other household goods decreased during the years 2008-2015. The average annual growth rate of furnishing and other household goods is 1%. Indicating that households spend yearly on average 1% more of these goods compared to the previous year. Indeed, changes to consumption trends tend to occur over longer periods of time. Looking at lifespan of furnishings and other household goods, this can vary widely based on the quality of the materials, the frequency of use, and how well they are maintained.

The purchase of vehicles has oscillated over time, with high sales values in periods: 2004-2009 and 2016-2021. However, in the years in between, the sales of vehicles dropped, leading to a long-term stagnation. Realising that the population in Europe increased and so did the stock of vehicles, one can conclude that vehicles appear to reach longer lifespans.

Most striking is the household expenditure of electrical and electronic appliances. Sales of tools and equipment for house and garden increased annually on average with 2% (beyond inflation). A similar picture, 3% growth, is shown for household appliances encompassing both, large household appliances such as washing machines, fridges, ovens etc. and small ones such as vacuum cleaners, coffee machines, toasters etc. This growth is possibly driven by the growth in single-person households in Europe. The consumption of audio-visual, photographic and information processing equipment has increased considerably, with 7% average growth rate.

A significant trend is the substantial increase in spending by European households on telephone and telefax equipment (i.e. mobile phones). In 2022, household expenditure in euros was 25 times higher than in 2000. This surge is closely linked to the proliferation of mobile phones over the past two decades. Assuming mobile phone purchases dominate this category, we have converted these expenditures into the number of items bought, based on a time series of average mobile phone prices in the EU27 since 2012 from the Ecodesign preparatory study. Part of the strong rise of what households spend on telephone equipment, can be explained by mobile phones becoming more expensive. The data shows a yearly price increase of 3% on average in the EU27 in the past decade.

Today, a European household buys a mobile phone every 2.5 years, though there is variation among member states. Swedish households purchase more than one mobile phone annually. Italy, Cyprus, and Croatia also show a considerable amount of mobile phone bought being respectively 0.9, 0.8 and 0.7. Slovakia on the opposite has the lowest expenditure on telephone equipment, with households buying only 0.02 mobile phones per year. Poland and Greece follow with 0.04 and 0.09 mobile phones respectively. And surprisingly, while expenditures on telephone equipment have steadily increased in most European member states, there has been a decline in the Netherlands since 2014.