In the year 2006 consumer spending of private households rose by 2.1% whereas income increased by just 1.8%, as was reported yesterday by the Federal Statistical Office. Thus, the savings ratio decreased from 10.6% in 2005 to 10.5% in 2006. In the year 2000 this ratio was 9.2%.
Macroeconomic accounting revealed that in 2006 private households in Germany spent almost 1349 billion Euros which amounts to 16.374 Euros on a per capita basis.
Particularly striking is the increase in expenditure spent by private households on energy (electric current, natural gas, oil and other kinds of fuel) by 9.6% compared with the year 2005. As a consequence, the share of energy expenditure in total consumer spending rose from 3.5% in 2000 to 4.7% in the year 2006. This increase is mainly due to higher prices on natural gas (+17.7% as compared to 2005) and oil (+10.7%).
By international comparison, energy costs in Germany are above the average of EU member states: In the year 2005 private households in the 25 EU member states (without Bulgaria and Rumania) on average spent 3.8% of their consumer spending on energy whereas the figure for Germany was 4.4%. 