Household Economic Survey: Year ended 30 June 2001

Little Change in Spending

The 2000/01 Household Economic Survey results from Statistics New Zealand showed that since 1997/98 average household spending has risen 2.5 percent to $758 per week.

Housing continued to be the most significant item of household expenditure, accounting for 24 cents in every dollar spent in 2000/01. Health, education, finance and other services accounted for 17 cents in the dollar, 16 cents went on food, and another 16 cents went on transportation. Thirteen cents went on equipping the home, 11 cents was spent on books, tobacco, computers and other personal items, while clothing and footwear took three cents.

Food expenditure rose the most, up 9 percent from $114 per week in 1997/98 to $125 per week in 2000/01. Meals away from home and ready-to-eat foods accounted for 23 percent of all food expenditure.

The last three years have seen considerable growth in the number of households having mobile phones and computers. Fifty-eight percent of households now have at least one mobile phone, up from the 18 percent that owned one in 1997/98. Forty-seven percent of households now have a home computer, up from the 32 percent that had one in 1997/98.

Computer and mobile phone ownership rates increase with income. Seventy-six percent of households with annual income above $74,000 have a home computer, compared with 21 percent of households with income below $20,000. Eighty-five percent of households with income above $74,000 have at least one mobile phone while only 31 percent of households with income below $20,000 have one.

Brian Pink Government Statistician END

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