Taiwan household spending hits record high in 2013

2014-09-23

Average Taiwan household spending hit a record high of NT$747,922 (US$24,931) in 2013, up 2.78 percent from the year before, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

DGBAS statistics show housing and utility services as the leading expenditure item, accounting for 24.3 percent of the total. Food, beverages and tobacco followed at 16.3 percent.

Medical care came in third at 14.7 percent, transportation fourth at 13.4 percent, restaurants and hotels fifth at 10.6 percent, and cultural activity and education sixth at 9.7 percent.

The biggest mover was food and beverage spending, falling from 33.14 percent in 1986 to 16.3 percent last year. During the same period of time, spending on restaurants and hotels nearly doubled to 10.6 percent from 5.75 percent.

Medical care expenses reached a new high at 14.7 percent, while spending on cultural activity and education dropped below 10 percent for the first time in 18 years.

Taiwan’s improving economy helped explain higher spending on eating out and vacations, a DGBAS official said. “As the country becomes an aged society with longer life expectancy and a declining birth rate, households are adjusting their spending behavior to reflect different needs.”

Various education reform programs implemented in recent years, including tuition-free high school education and subsidies for day care services for children under the age of five, are also reasons behind lower education spending.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=221922&CtNode=413)