Living in Lisbon cost 232 euros per month more than the average in Portugal
The expenses of families who live in the metropolitan area of Lisbon are, on average, 13.7% higher than the monthly average of Portugal. Most of the spendings go to housing, food and transports.
Families who live in metropolitan area of Lisbon spend, on average, 232 euros more per month — the equivalent to 13.7% — than families from the rest of the country. While the average amount of expenses from a Portuguese household dropped when compared to spendings from five years ago, there was an increase in Lisbon. These data were disclosed this Monday by Statistics Portugal (INE).
The data concerns the period of 2015/2016 and confirm what had been disclosed last December. Living in Lisbon is more costly: families spend 23,148 euros per year, 764 euros more than the Portuguese average. Concerning the 2010/2011 period, there was a 3.4% increase in the expenses of families living in the metropolitan Lisbon area, while the country’s average decreased slightly (0.1%, corresponding to less 28 euros per year).
The Azores is the Portuguese region in which yearly spendings are the lowest: there was a 4.3% decrease (the largest cut in the country) when making a comparison to expenses from five years ago. As for Alentejo, household expenses increased 6.1% to 17,798 euros per year. Nonetheless, it is the region in mainland Portugal in which expenses are lower.
When looking at the structure of household spendings in Portugal, it can be ascertained that 60% of expenses go straight to housing, food and transports. Housing justifies 31.9% of the spendings, food and non-alcoholic beverages weigh in 14.3% and transports correspond to an additional 14.1% of expenses.
Lisbon maintains this proportion, but the Portuguese capital city’s housing spendings weight in more than in the rest of the country: they justify 32.7% of the overall household expenses. Only in Madeira and the Azores does housing has a more significant influence (34% and 37.2%, respectively).
INE also discloses that families with children spend 44% more than those who don’t. The difference is 7,760 euros per year — the equivalent to an additional 647 euros per month. The structure of their expenses is identical to families who don’t have children, but they spend more in almost every type of expense. The main difference is in education, an area in which they spend eight times more per year; as for clothing and shoes, households with children spend twice as much. Yet, families without children spend 2% more on health than those who have children.
