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Chapter III — Drivers of Sector Growth and Competitiveness
FIgURE III.26: EU-27 sectoral shares of private consumption in 2008 (% of total consumption)
Food
Imputed rentals for housing
Catering services
Operation of personal transport equipment
Clothing
Electricity, gas and other fuels
Actual rentals for housing
Purchase of vehicles
Recreational and cultural services
Financial services n.e.c.
Insurance
Transport services
Telephone and telefax services
Personal care
Furniture and furnishings, carpets and other oor coverings
Tobacco
Other recreational items and equipment, gardens and pets
Audio-visual, photographic and information processing equipment
Water supply and miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling
Goods and services for routine household maintenance
Accommodation services
Alcoholic beverages
Newspapers, books and stationery
Medical products, appliances and equipment
Out-patient services
Maintenance and repair of the dwelling
Non-alcoholic beverages
Other services n.e.c.
Education
Social protection
Footwear including repair
Household appliances
Personal eects n.e.c.
Hospital services
Package holidays
Household textiles
Glassware, tableware and household utensils
Tools and equipment for house and garden
Other major durables for recreation and culture
Telephone and telefax equipment
Postal services
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Note: Final consumption expenditure of households is classified according to consumption purpose (COICOP) for different goods and
services.
Source: own calculations using Eurostat data.
As EU standards of living are constantly improving,
demand for goods and services with relatively high income
elasticities have been growing faster than demand for
necessity goods. EU average annual growth in constant
prices has increased significantly in communication,
recreation and culture and health. Telephone and telefax
equipment increased by 17.4 % on average, followed by
audio‑visual, photographic and information processing
equipment, telephone and telefax services and financial
services n.e.c. which increased by between 4.5 % and 10 %.
The differences between the EU‑15 and the EU‑27 were
largest in areas where consumption grew much faster in the
EU‑15 than in the rest of the EU. Consumption of package
holidays in the EU‑15 grew by 50 % more than in the EU‑
27 and consumption of alcoholic beverages and electricity,
gas and other fuels grew in the EU‑15 by +0.5 % while it
decreased in the whole of the EU, cf. Figure III.27. 59
59 Figure III.27 includes more categories of goods than Figure III.23.
Some categories are also further broken down in Figure III.24 in
order to provide more information. Figure III.23 shows for
examples that while consumption of alcoholic beverages,
tobacco and narcotics decreased both for EU-15 and EU-27, the
consumption of alcoholic beverages increased in EU-15.
89