Expenses of the population of Belarus

By the end of 2020, cash expenditures per household amounted to 1391.2 rubles per month, which is 7.8% more than a year ago. This size varies quite a lot depending on the place of residence, the number of children, the level of security. For example, the monetary expenses of Belarusians living in cities are almost 35% more than what rural residents spend – 1498.4 against 1108.4 rubles per month. The average amount of expenses of a family raising one child is 1,733.5 rubles. And the expenses of low-income households do not exceed 660 rubles. per month – less than half of the national average, and it can be a family of several people. This difference underlines the importance of targeted social support for the least protected families, especially in the context of accelerating consumer price growth, which we are seeing this year.

Up to 45% for food, 25% for housing, transport and communications

According to the survey results, the majority of the earned income (73.9%) of the country's population spends on consumer needs. If we take all expenses for these purposes for 100%, their structure will look like this: 39.1% goes to food, 33.9% is the purchase of non–food products, 24.3% is the payment for services, 2.7% is the purchase of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. It is curious that over the past 5 years, the cost of food has decreased from 41.9% to 39.1%, and the cost of services has increased from 21.9% to 24.3%. Low–income households and pensioners spend significantly more on food - 45.1% and 45.7%. In general, households with a low income level are characterized by a higher share of food expenses, and families with high incomes spend more on non-food products (see chart).

Other types of costs include housing and communal services (7.6%), transport (10.3%), communications (6.6%). Belarusians spend up to

25% of the funds spent on consumer needs for these purposes.[pic 1]

Only 60.9% of households indicated having savings. The level of savings depends on household income, as well as on its size – the higher the income and the more people in the household, the higher the share of savings.

Accordingly, the lowest level of savings is observed in low-income households – 19.6 rubles. per month, or 3% of cash expenses. But the richest households (monetary expenses – 2302.7 rubles per month) can afford to postpone an average of 17.2% of income at a value of 12% on average in the country.

Among the goals that stimulate savings, unforeseen expenses in the future are most often found. The presence of such a motive was indicated by 69% of respondents making savings. The distribution of other responses depends on the segment of the respondent's life cycle. In the category of households with children under the age of 18, such goals as large purchases, the purchase of real estate, the education of children (52.4%, 46.9% and 31.5%, respectively) have reached 2-4 places, while pensioners have assistance to relatives, treatment, ritual services (43,7%, 39,3%, 25,9%).