Average monthly income 5,302 lei in Q3, expenditures 83.8 pct

The total monthly average income per household stood at 5,302 lei in the third quarter of last year, and the total expenditures reached, on average, 4,444 lei per month/per household, accounting for 83.8% of the total income level, show the data of the National Institute of Statistics (INS), published on Monday. At the level of each household in Romania, the total monthly average income was 2,068 lei per person, and the total average expenditure amounted to 1,733 lei/per person. In the urban area, the average monthly income per person was 2,508.89 lei, and in the rural area it stood at 1,551.56 lei. According to the INS, the cash income averaged at 4,961 lei per month per household (1,934 lei per person), and the in-kind income a 341 lei per month per household (133 lei per person). Cash incomes accounted for 96.3% of all incomes in urban areas, and for 88.4% in rural areas. Wages and related incomes represented the most important source of earnings (68.9% of total household income). Also contributing to the total household income were earnings from social benefits (18.9%), independent non-agricultural activities (2.1%), agriculture (1.9%), those from property and sales of household assets (1.1%), as well as the incomes in kind (6.4%), mainly the equivalent consumption of agricultural products from own resources (5.3%). According to the INS, the equivalent of consumption of agri-food products from own resources was 2.4% in urban areas and 10.9% of total incomes in rural areas. Expenditures for investments intended for the purchase or construction of dwellings, the purchase of land and equipment necessary for the household's production, the purchase of stock, etc. account for a small share in the total expenditures of households (only 0.7%). According to the standard classification of individual consumption expenditure by purpose (COICOP), food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for an average of 33.5% of household consumption in the third quarter of 2020. On the second place in the structure of expenditures are those with housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, respectively 14.6%, and alcoholic beverages and tobacco rank third, with 8.6%.AGERPRES(RO - author: George Banciulea, editor: Mariana Nica; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)