I. Income structure and level of Hungarian residents

According to the income of full-time employees, the average monthly salary in Hungary was 65,438+08.5 HUF (US$ 65,438+0006) in 2007, and it was US$ 65,438+098,006,438+065,438+058 and US$ 988 in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Second, the structure and level of household consumption in Hungary.

According to the international common method, the European Union divides residents' consumption into 12 categories: food and non-alcoholic beverages, alcohol and tobacco, clothing, shoes and hats, household energy such as water and electricity, furniture and daily household maintenance, medical care, transportation, communication, entertainment, culture, education, restaurants and hotels, and other products and services.

In 2007, the final consumption expenditure of Hungarian households was $ 406. 1 1 billion, up 0.6% year-on-year, accounting for 66.5% of GDP. The per capita final consumption expenditure was 706,000 yuan (about US$ 3,840.5 at current exchange rate and US$ 4,039 at constant prices in 2000), down by 2.9% year-on-year, while prices rose by 8% in the same period. In 2007, the per capita consumption of Hungarian residents increased by 84.3% compared with 2000. During the period of 2000-2007, the changes of consumption expenditure structure are as follows:

During the period of 1 and 2002-2005, the consumption of food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased by 6 percentage points, and began to increase in 2006. By 2007, this kind of consumer goods accounted for 23.7% of the total consumption expenditure of residents.

2. The proportion of clothing consumption expenditure tends to decline. In 2007, the proportion of clothing consumption expenditure fell to 2.9%, and that of footwear fell to 1.3%.

Since 3.200 1, the proportion of consumption expenditure such as housing, water, electricity and fuel has continuously increased, accounting for more than 2 1%, second only to food consumption expenditure.

4. The proportion of medical and health consumption expenditure has increased. It accounted for 2.5% of the total consumption expenditure in 2000 and 3.4% in 2007. 68.6% of medical and health expenditure was spent on medicines, and the expenditure on medicines increased by nearly 8% from 2000 to 2007. At the same time, the dental expenditure decreased, and the average per capita in 2007 was only 656 HUF (about 65,438+04.5 USD).

5. In transportation and communication consumption, the proportion of transportation service consumption has increased significantly. From 2000 to 2007, the proportion of railway transportation decreased from 4.4% to 3%, and the proportion of road transportation increased from 7.5% to 14.3%.

6. In telecom consumption expenditure, the proportion of postal service consumption decreased, while the consumption expenditure of telephone and other telecom services increased.

7. Hotel catering consumption has increased year by year, accounting for 3.5% of the total consumption expenditure in 2007.

Food consumption

Food consumption is the largest household consumption item, which refers to pure household food consumption excluding the consumption of restaurants, enterprises or school canteens. In 2007, the per capita food consumption was 15.3 HUF (about US$ 832), and the per capita non-alcoholic beverage consumption was10.4 million HUF (about US$ 76), accounting for 24% of the total household consumption expenditure. In 2007, the increase of producer and foreign trade prices led to the increase of consumer price 12.8%, which exceeded the average price increase. Food consumption decreased by 4. 1% year-on-year, due to rising consumer prices and changes in people's lifestyles.

During the period of 2000-2007, with the gradual improvement of people's living standards and the change of consumption patterns, the number of home-made foods decreased continuously, from 20.8% in 2000 to 1 1.7% in 2007. Spending on fast food, eating in restaurants and eating in company or school restaurants is increasing. In 2007, this per capita consumption expenditure reached 22,500 HUF (about US$ 65,438+0.22), an increase of 265,438+0% compared with 2000. Due to the rapid development of fast food industry and restaurants and their low-cost advantages, the consumption of dining in corporate or school restaurants has also continued to decline.

In recent years, the consumption structure of household food is also changing. People pay more attention to the health and nutrition of diet structure, and the consumption of food rich in animal fat is greatly reduced. The consumption of edible oil is basically stable at the annual per capita consumption 10 kg, while the consumption of sugar and grain is decreasing. Bread consumption dropped significantly, meat consumption stagnated, pork consumption declined slightly, and meat consumption increased. Compared with other European countries, the consumption ratio of milk, fish, vegetables and fruits in Hungary is very low and is declining continuously. The food consumption of low-income families is more sensitive to price changes. If the price of some foods exceeds the expected level, they will choose alternative foods with lower prices.

In all kinds of food consumption, the per capita consumption of high-income people is higher than that of low-income people, and only bread and dried beans are lower than that of low-income people. The biggest difference in consumption is cheese consumption, and the gap between the rich and the poor is more than 3.5 times. In addition, the consumption of vegetables and fruits closely related to health also has obvious gap between the rich and the poor. It is worth noting that the population of high-income families is often lower than that of low-income families, which means that low-income families have a heavier burden of food consumption and a higher proportion of food consumption.

(2) Consumption of energy such as water and electricity in daily life.

The consumption expenditure of water, electricity and other energy sources in daily life is the second largest consumption item of Hungarian families. In recent years, this expenditure has greatly increased. In 2007, the per capita expenditure on housing, water, electricity and other fuels was 65,438+048,600 HUF (about US$ 808), more than double that in 2000. Household energy consumption expenditure accounts for the largest proportion, with a per capita income of 965,438+000 HUF (about US$ 495), accounting for more than 60% of household daily water and electricity expenditure and 65,438+03% of total household consumption expenditure.

(3) Durable consumer goods

Since 1990, the expenditure of household durable consumer goods has been increasing, and the consumption pattern in western Europe has been gradually accepted by Hungarians. The continuous emergence of trendy durable consumer goods (household appliances and electronic equipment) has promoted the continuous expansion of the Hungarian durable consumer goods market. The prices of durable consumer goods vary greatly, and cheap and durable products produced on a large scale are particularly popular in the market. Television in Hungary has been popular for a long time. 98.7% households have color TV sets, most households have multiple TV sets, 8% have video cameras, 64% have DVD players, 48% have audio equipment, and 365,438+0% have digital cameras. Personal computer consumption has increased. In 2007, 43% of households owned personal computers and 6% owned laptops. Mobile phone consumption is growing rapidly. In 2000, 27% of households used mobile phones, and in 2007, every 100 households had 166 mobile phones on average. 49.7% of families own cars.

Third, Hungary's consumption habits are compared with those of the EU.

In order to facilitate comparison, the EU adopts PPS unit (purchasing power standard) as the measurement unit of consumption power. PPS refers to the ability of residents in different countries to buy products and services within a certain period of time, which filters out the influence of price differences and exchange rate factors in different countries. In 2005, the average household consumption in the 27 EU countries was 24667PPS, and that in Hungary was 10694PPS, which was 43% of the EU average and 37% of the EU 15 average. Romania has the lowest household consumption level, only 5324PPS, and Luxembourg is the richest country in the EU, with an average household consumption expenditure of 5 1.932 PPS. The average household consumption expenditure of the newly joined Central and Eastern European countries is less than half of the average level of the old EU member countries.

(1) Comparison of annual consumption expenditure based on each consumption unit.

In order to eliminate the differences caused by different family members, the European Union adopted the score of 1.0 for the first adult in the family (1over 4 years old), 0.5 for other members, and 0.3 for those under 14 years old, and each score was a consumption unit. In contrast, in 2005, the annual consumption expenditure per consumption unit in Hungary was 624 1PPS, and the average in EU-27 countries was 15225PPS. Hungary is equivalent to 465,438+0% of the average level of EU-27 countries and 35% of the average level of old member countries (17825pps). Comparing the two methods based on each household consumption and each consumption unit, there is basically no difference in the ranking of consumption levels of EU member States. Among the 27 member countries, Hungary ranks sixth from the bottom, Romania ranks last with 2866PPS, and Luxembourg ranks first with 32794PPS, which is more than 1 1 times different from Romania. Among the newly joined Central and Eastern European countries, only Slovenia has surpassed Portugal's 1 1674PPS.

(b) Comparison of household consumption among different age groups

Both old and new European allies show the same thing. With the retirement age of 60 as the upper limit, the consumption power increases with age, that is, the consumption power of families aged 45-59 is the strongest. However, in recent years, due to the early retirement age, people in this age group have increased their awareness of saving for retirement, and then their spending power has declined, resulting in the phenomenon that their spending power is lower than that of people aged 30-44. Romania (47%) and Cyprus (44%) have the largest decline in consumption over 60 years old, Sweden (10%) has the smallest decline, and Hungary has a 34% decline in consumption in this age group. The consumption power of different age groups under 60 in Hungary is not very different. The consumption power of the age group of 30-44 is 9. 1% higher than that of the age group under 30, and that of the age group of 45-59 is 7. 1% higher than that of the age group under 30. The ratios of the 27 EU countries are 3 1.5% and 39% respectively.

(c) Comparison of household consumption structure in EU member states

Due to different economic, cultural development and lifestyles, there are great differences in household consumption structure among EU countries. The largest consumption item of households in the 27 EU countries is housing and living energy, accounting for 28.2% of the total consumption expenditure, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages, accounting for 14.6%, and the third largest consumption expenditure is transportation, accounting for 12.5%. These three consumption expenditures are also the top three in Hungary, but the order is different: the first category is food and non-alcoholic beverages expenditure of 22.6%, the second category is housing and living energy expenditure 19.4%, and the third category is transportation expenditure 14. 1% (exceeding the EU average). According to Engel's theory, the proportion of food and non-alcoholic beverages is inversely proportional to the standard of living, and the poorer the country, the higher the proportion of such consumption expenditure. Among EU countries, Luxembourg has the smallest proportion of food consumption expenditure, only 9.3%, followed by Britain, with 9.9%. Romania and Latvia account for the highest proportion of such consumption expenditure, accounting for 44.2% and 33.8% respectively. Dining in restaurants is included in the consumption expenditure of restaurants and hotels, accounting for 5.7% of the EU, of which Romania has the lowest consumption expenditure of 1. 1%, Portugal has the highest consumption expenditure of 10.8%, and Hungary accounts for about half of the EU average. This consumption ratio is generally high in southern Europe, which may be related to lifestyle.

In the main categories of consumption expenditure, the proportion of food and housing consumption in Hungary and the old EU countries is basically the same, accounting for 42%. The proportion of transportation consumption is basically the same, but the proportion of communication consumption expenditure in Hungary is the highest in the EU, reaching 6.5%, which is more than twice the average proportion of the EU. In addition, the proportion of tobacco and alcohol consumption in Hungary is higher than that in the old EU countries, but the proportion of clothing, shoes and hats consumption, furniture, housing and daily maintenance consumption expenditure is also lower than the EU average. The proportion of restaurant meals and hotel consumption expenditure of Hungarian residents is also lower than that of the EU. Spending on culture and entertainment is directly proportional to people's living standards. For example, in Austria, the proportion of such household spending is 12.6%, and in Sweden it is 13.3%. Hungary is 8.5%.

Another factor that affects the household consumption structure is the national financial system. For example, Sweden has a free education system, and families hardly have to pay any education fees. However, the cost of education in Cyprus is very high, accounting for 4% of household consumption expenditure, which is equivalent to four times of the EU average. A country's medical insurance system also has an important impact on the proportion of family medical and health consumption expenditure.

Fourth, the characteristics of Hungarian household consumption.

1. Consumer behavior: Hungarian consumers are generally concerned about the price between price and product quality, and only a few consumers are concerned about product quality. Therefore, the development of after-sales service of Hungarian products is relatively backward.

2. Consumers' purchasing power is weak. Most consumers will only buy when their lives are in urgent need, and their purchasing power is relatively concentrated in a few wealthy families. Hungarian consumers generally like domestic products.

3. Consumers are highly dependent on consumer loans. The average household consumption loan in Hungary is 179 1 euro, which is mainly used to buy durable consumer goods such as household appliances.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) The influence of financial crisis on Hungarian household consumption

According to the data released by the Hungarian National Bureau of Statistics, in 2009, the domestic retail sales in Hungary was 7,279 billion HUF (about 36 billion US dollars), down 5.2% year-on-year. Retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco decreased by 3.8% year-on-year, and retail sales of non-food commodities decreased by 8.7% year-on-year. Among them, the retail sales of textiles, clothing and footwear decreased by 4. 1%, furniture and other household durable goods decreased by 13.5%, medical supplies decreased by 2.8%, cosmetics increased by 5.8% year-on-year, and automobile fuel was basically the same as last year. Due to the tightening of Hungary's credit policy, the scale of consumer loans was greatly affected, and automobile sales decreased by 465,438+0.3% year-on-year.

The above data show that the financial crisis has a significant impact on Hungarian household consumption expenditure, and the economic recession has made Hungarian household consumption decline, and the characteristics of household consumption have become more prominent. According to GKI of Hungarian Economic Research Institute, the Hungarian economy will bottom out in 20 10 and begin to develop slowly. However, due to factors such as high unemployment rate and credit tightening policy, residents' consumption prospects are still not optimistic.