Less food, more services: the ISTAT report on how Italians’ consumption has changed over the last 70 years

All data: https://www.istat.it/produzione-editoriale/consumi/

After the Second World War, spending was still heavily unbalanced on primary goods

In 1953, 52.4% of the family budget was allocated to food, drinks and tobacco, while almost 80% was absorbed by food, clothing and housing. Today the share for food and tobacco has fallen to 20.9%, with a drop of over 30 percentage points, against a growth in the components linked to other goods and especially services. Already in the first decade of the economic boom, a rapid change in the composition of spending was observed.

Private transport and durable goods

Between 1953 and 1963 real spending increased by 30.6% and the share allocated to private means of transport went from 0.8% to 1.8%, reaching 2.9% today. At the same time, the diffusion of durable goods is growing: in 1963, 1.2% of spending was allocated to household appliances and 0.6% to radios and televisions, while in 1966, 60% of families owned a television and refrigerator and 32% a washing machine.

The energy shocks of the 1970s directly affected the structure of consumption

The share of expenditure on fuel went from 1.5% in 1963 to 4.6% in 1974, up to 8.7% in 1980, and then reduced to the current 4.7%. In the same period, public policies changed health spending: between 1978 and 1980, with the introduction of the National Health Service, the share allocated to health fell from 3.9% to 1.3%, and then rose again in the following years to around 4%. A structural transformation has been consolidated since the 1980s.

The share for clothing and footwear is reduced from 10.4% in 1980 to 3.7% in 2024, while that for tobacco is more than halved. At the same time, spending on housing, water, energy and fuel is continuously growing, becoming the main budget item: from 15.9% in 1980 to 26.9% in 2000, up to 35.7% in 2024, with a peak of 38.8% in 2020.

Over the last thirty years, the centrality of services has emerged

The share of expenditure allocated to them reaches approximately 50% of the monthly budget, a level equivalent to that which was absorbed by food in the 1950s. In the same period, the digital revolution changes consumption patterns: in 2024, 96.5% of families own at least one mobile phone, while the share of those with a landline phone drops to 36.4%, compared to 92.3% in 1997. Territorial differences remain.

In the 1950s, families in the South spent 12% less than the national average; today the gap has risen to 20%. Furthermore, in the South over 25% of spending is still destined for food, drinks and tobacco, compared to around 19% in the Centre-North.

In the European comparisonthe most recent data available (2020) indicate that in Italy housing, food and transport absorb over two thirds of overall spending, compared to 63% in Spain and 56% in France and Germany, where the share allocated to recreation, culture and services is higher.