Changing habits

People are spending more money on fun and relaxation

Massage

(Bild: Kurhan/stock.adobe.com)

People's habits are changing and so is their consumer spending. For example, products such as clothing, shoes and electronics are becoming less important. At the same time, everything that has to do with fun, relaxation and self-optimization is increasing disproportionately, according to market researcher RegioData.

There were particularly strong increases in spending on in-game purchases, i.e. digital transactions within video games, bicycles, beauty treatments, animals and tattoos. Austrians spent 172% more on cosmetic surgery compared to 2014. For animals, the increase was 169 percent, and for tattoos it was 113 percent.

159 euros per year for pets
In absolute terms, however, the figures are still low. The population spends an average of 68 euros per person per year on cosmetic procedures. The figure for pets is already 159 euros.

Spending on pets has risen significantly (symbolic image).

(Bild: Gorodenkoff/stock.adobe.com)

Housing and transport before food
By far the largest amount of money continues to be spent on housing (excluding heating costs), which according to RegioData amounts to an average of 4666 euros per inhabitant per year. This is already 46 percent more than in 2014, while inflation has risen by 33 percent in this period. The second largest item is transport (private transport, public transport, data traffic).

In third place is expenditure on food. Other high items are household energy and restaurant expenditure. Austrians spend 89% more money on eating out than they did ten years ago.

Overall, every person in Austria has an average of 27,075 euros at their disposal, compared to 19,970 euros ten years ago. However, overall inflation of 33 percent must be taken into account. RegioData consumer spending is an annually updated meta-analysis. It is based on data from Statistics Austria and Eurostat, among others.