Irish households spending less on food and more on rent and mortgages
Irish homes are spending less on food and more on mortgage repayments and rent, latest Central Statistic Office figures reveal.
A survey of household budgets around the country reveals an average of around €123 a week is spent on eating - less than 15% of outgoings.
In 1980, householders spent almost twice the proportion of their weekly bills on groceries or eating out.
Over the same period, the cost of keeping roofs over heads accounted for much more of an average household's spending.
Again, in 1980, mortgages and rent were making up around 7% of a home's outgoings.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show this figure has soared to almost 20% - or a fifth - of weekly bills last year.
The sharpest rise in home loan or rental payments has been over the last 17 years.
The Household Budget Survey also shows medical costs, childcare, education, pensions and telephone bills are all increasingly eating into weekly outgoings.
At the same time, there has been a dramatic drop in the amount being spent on alcohol and tobacco, down by nearly 30% over the past five years.
The estimated average weekly expenditure in 2015-2016 for all households in the State was €845.12.
This was 4.3% higher than the €810.61 figure recorded five years earlier.
The amount of money we're spending on food and alcohol has dropped from €39.48 per week to €28.
