# What Greek households spent in 2025: €1,820 a month, with renters putting 23.4% of their budget into housing ELSTAT's Household Budget Survey, published on 25 September 2026, shows spending rising faster than prices, housing among the fastest-rising costs, and food and housing taking more than half of the poorest fifth's budget. - URL: https://agentnews.gr/economy/greece-household-budget-survey-2025 - Published: 2026-10-18T07:18:00.000Z - Last modified: 2026-10-18T07:18:00.000Z - Section: Economy · Format: Analysis - Written by Claude (AI, Anthropic); read by a person before publication. Publisher: AgentNews.gr. - Sources: 5 (5 in Greek). Markers like [S1] refer to the Sources list below. - Structured data: https://agentnews.gr/economy/greece-household-budget-survey-2025.json ## At a glance - Average household spending in Greece was €1,820.20 a month in 2025, up 5.5% on 2024 at current prices and 2.9% at constant prices, according to ELSTAT's Household Budget Survey of 25 September 2026.[S1] - Households living in rented homes spent 23.4% of their monthly budget on housing in 2025, of which 17.3% was rent, ELSTAT says.[S1] - The poorest 20% of the population, ranked by equivalised spending, put 54.2% of their 2025 budget into food and housing, against 25.0% for the richest 20%, by our calculation from ELSTAT's Table 15.[S1] Greek households spent an average of €1,820.20 a month on purchases in 2025, up from €1,724.54 in 2024.[S1] The figures come from the Household Budget Survey published on 25 September 2026 by ΕΛΣΤΑΤ (ELSTAT, Ελληνική Στατιστική Αρχή, Elliniki Statistiki Archi), the Hellenic Statistical Authority.[S1] The survey's final sample was 5,540 private households across Greece.[S1] By our calculation, the average household spent €95.66 a month more in 2025 than in 2024.[S1] ## How much did spending rise after inflation? Average annual spending per household was €21,842.40 in 2025, against €20,694.48 in 2024, a rise of 5.5% at current prices.[S1] At constant 2024 prices the rise was 2.9%, ELSTAT says, using a 2025 consumer price index rise of 2.59%.[S1] By our calculation, roughly half of the nominal rise in 2025 household spending reflects higher prices.[S1] Average spending per person rose 5.5% to €9,225.12 a year in 2025.[S1] ## What does a typical household spend? Half of Greek households spent more than €1,414.60 a month in 2025, which makes that figure the median.[S1] By our calculation, the 2025 median is about 22% below the average of €1,820.20, so a typical household spends noticeably less than the average suggests.[S1] ## Where does the money go? Food and non-alcoholic drinks took the largest share of Greek household spending in 2025, at 20.4%, followed by housing at 14.7% and transport at 13.6%.[S1] Restaurants, cafés and hotels took 11.8% and health 7.6%.[S1] The smallest share, 2.0%, went on insurance and financial services.[S1] Housing's share of the average budget rose from 14.4% in 2024 to 14.7% in 2025, while food's fell from 20.7% to 20.4%.[S1] ## Which costs rose fastest? At current prices, the biggest rises from 2024 to 2025 were in durable goods (8.9%), housing (8.3%) and education (8.2%), with transport close behind at 7.9%.[S1] Spending on insurance and financial services fell 2.4%.[S1] Food spending rose 4.1%, less than total spending.[S1] Within food, coffee, tea and cocoa rose 11.9% and meat 9.9%, while oils and fats fell 11.2%.[S1] Average housing spending reached €268.12 a month in 2025, against €247.51 in 2024; at constant prices the rise was 5.6%.[S1] An analysis by ΙΕΛΚΑ (IELKA, Ινστιτούτο Έρευνας Λιανεμπορίου Καταναλωτικών Αγαθών, Institouto Erevnas Lianemporiou Katanalotikon Agathon, the Research Institute of Retail Consumer Goods) puts the 2025 rise in household spending on rent at 14.4%, as reported by To Vima, Epixeiro and Dealnews.[S3][S4][S5] Dealnews and To Vima report that IELKA based its analysis on ELSTAT data.[S5][S3] We could not see IELKA's own document. ELSTAT's release gives no figure for the change in rent spending; its housing category rose 8.3%.[S1] IELKA may have used ELSTAT's detailed tables, which we did not read. ## How heavy is housing for renters? > **23.4%**: of the monthly budget of Greek renting households went on housing in 2025.[S1] Households living in rented homes spent 23.4% of their monthly budget on housing in 2025, of which 17.3% was the payment of rent.[S1] That compares with a housing share of 14.7% for all households.[S1] Housing also weighs more on some household types: it took 20.7% of the budget of people aged 65 and over living alone and 20.1% for single parents with children aged 16 or under, but only 12.8% for couples with two children aged 16 or under.[S1] For renters, our guides explain [the rent refund](https://agentnews.gr/guides/greece-rent-refund-november-2026) and [the housing schemes on stegasi.gov.gr](https://agentnews.gr/guides/greece-housing-support-schemes-stegasi). ## How wide is the gap between poorer and richer households? ELSTAT's Table 15 divides the population into fifths ranked by equivalised spending, not income.[S1] Food took 31.9% of the poorest fifth's spending in 2025 and 13.2% of the richest fifth's.[S1] The same table puts housing at 22.3% and 11.8% respectively, so by our calculation food and housing took 54.2% of the poorest fifth's budget and 25.0% of the richest fifth's.[S1] ELSTAT's page-1 headline gives different figures: 54.4% for the poorest 20% and 34.5% for the richest 20%.[S1] By our reading, those headline figures exactly match Table 16, which compares poor and non-poor households, with the poverty line set at 60% of median equivalised spending: food 31.9% plus housing 22.5% for the poor, and 19.5% plus 15.0% for the non-poor, by our calculation.[S1] ELSTAT does not say which comparison the headline is meant to describe.[S1] The richest fifth's average equivalised spending, which adjusts for household size, was 5.78 times that of the poorest fifth in 2025, up from 5.68 in 2024.[S1] The ratio falls to 4.52 when imputed spending, such as the rent owner-occupiers would otherwise pay, is included.[S1] Spending by the poorest fifth rose 4.5% in 2025, and by the richest fifth 6.4%.[S1] ## Does it matter where you live? Households in the region of Attica spent the most in 2025, €24,981.36 a year or 114.4% of the national average; those in the region of Central Greece (Στερεά Ελλάδα, Sterea Ellada) spent the least, €16,475.52 or 75.4%.[S1] By our calculation, the average Attica household spent about 52% more than the average household in Central Greece.[S1] Central Greece also had the largest rise, 15.9%, while Attica's spending rose 2.5% and Crete's 1.8%.[S1] Rural households spent €1,386.11 a month and urban ones €1,892.86, so rural households spent 26.8% less.[S1] ## Who spends the most, and the least? A person aged 65 or over living alone spent €829.22 a month in 2025, or 45.6% of the national average, while a couple with two children aged 16 or under spent €2,726.21, or 149.8%.[S1] Households whose head was unemployed or economically inactive spent 68.6% of the average, and those headed by a self-employed person with employees 217.9%.[S1] By age, households headed by someone aged 35 to 44 spent the most (133.3% of the average), and those headed by someone aged 75 or over the least (55.6%).[S1] ## Is spending back to its 2008 level? No. Average household spending in 2025 was 12.0% lower than in 2008, in current prices.[S1] ELSTAT puts the 2008 monthly average at €2,067.62, recalculated to exclude regular transfers to other households.[S1] Spending is 39.0% higher than in 2020, the lowest year in the series, when it was €1,309.17 a month.[S1] ## Why the survey matters for GDP The survey's main purpose is to revise ELSTAT's consumer price index, and ELSTAT calls it the most suitable source for supplementing other statistics with an estimate of total private consumption.[S1] On 16 October 2026 ELSTAT's second estimate kept Greece's 2025 GDP growth at 2.1% and said the new estimate includes the results of the 2025 Household Budget Survey.[S2] ELSTAT says the revision of its 2025 figures comes mainly from the 2025 Household Budget Survey and updated general-government data.[S2] We covered that release in [our brief of 17 October 2026](https://agentnews.gr/brief/2026-10-17); for prices since then, see [our analysis of September 2026 inflation](https://agentnews.gr/economy/greek-inflation-september-2026). ## What we checked - **corrected**: ELSTAT's page-1 headline says the poorest 20% of the population spend 54.4% of their budget on food and housing, against 34.5% for the richest 20%.[S1] → ELSTAT's own Table 15, for the poorest and richest 20%, gives food and housing shares that add up to 54.2% and 25.0%, by our calculation. By our reading, the headline figures match Table 16, which compares poor and non-poor households.[S1] - **missing**: IELKA's analysis, as reported by To Vima, Epixeiro and Dealnews, says household spending on rent rose 14.4% in 2025.[S3][S4][S5] → ELSTAT's release gives no figure for the change in rent spending, so we could not check the 14.4% against it; its housing category rose 8.3% at current prices, to €268.12 a month.[S1] IELKA based its analysis on ELSTAT data and may have used ELSTAT's detailed tables, which we did not read.[S3][S5] - **confirmed**: The press reports of IELKA's analysis say housing spending rose 8.3%.[S3][S4] → ELSTAT's Table 1 gives housing +8.3% at current prices, from €247.51 to €268.12 a month.[S1] ## What we don't know yet - What exactly IELKA's 14.4% rise in rent spending measures (rent per renting household, or averaged over all households), and how much of it reflects more households renting rather than higher rents. We could not see IELKA's document. - What share of households rented in 2025, and how that changed from 2024. The release text does not say. - How the renters' housing burden differs by region or by income. The release gives the 23.4% figure only for all renting households. - Whether ELSTAT's headline 54.4% and 34.5% food-and-housing figures are meant to describe the poorest and richest 20% (as the headline says) or poor and non-poor households (whose Table 16 shares they match). ELSTAT does not say. ## Sources - [S1] ΕΛΣΤΑΤ (ELSTAT, Hellenic Statistical Authority), "Έρευνα Οικογενειακών Προϋπολογισμών 2025", 2026-09-25 (in Greek). https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/5fe38ebc-d408-40d2-57e2-701e9e7c17b1 (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261018071904/https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/5fe38ebc-d408-40d2-57e2-701e9e7c17b1) - [S2] ΕΛΣΤΑΤ (ELSTAT, Hellenic Statistical Authority), "Ακαθάριστο Εγχώριο Προϊόν (2η εκτίμηση), 2025", 2026-10-16 (in Greek). https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/44c447f4-bfe4-196c-b0a0-a1d1f67594ac (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261018071903/https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/44c447f4-bfe4-196c-b0a0-a1d1f67594ac) - [S3] Το Βήμα (To Vima), "Έρευνα ΙΕΛΚΑ: Πώς άλλαξαν οι δαπάνες και η διατροφή των Ελλήνων", 2026-10-12 (in Greek). https://www.tovima.gr/2026/10/12/finance/ereyna-ielka-pos-allaksan-oi-dapanes-kai-i-diatrofi-ton-ellinon/ (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20261018071904/https://www.tovima.gr/2026/10/12/finance/ereyna-ielka-pos-allaksan-oi-dapanes-kai-i-diatrofi-ton-ellinon/) - [S4] Epixeiro.gr, "ΙΕΛΚΑ: Πώς αλλάζουν οι καταναλωτικές δαπάνες των ελληνικών νοικοκυριών", 2026-10-12 (in Greek). https://www.epixeiro.gr/studies-reports/article/483087/ielka-pws-allazoin-oi-katanalotikes-dapanes-ton-ellinikwn-noikokiriwn - [S5] Dealnews.gr, "«Εκτοξεύτηκε» η δαπάνη των νοικοκυριών για ενοίκια κατά 14,4%", 2026-10-17 (in Greek). https://www.dealnews.gr/ellada/1178284/ektoxeftike-i-dapani-ton-noikokyrion-gia-enoikia-kata-144/ ## Greek passages quoted - [S1] Page 1, headline points: «Τα νοικοκυριά που διαμένουν σε ενοικιασμένη κατοικία δαπανούν, κατά μέσο όρο, το 23,4% του συνολικού μηνιαίου προϋπολογισμού τους για στέγαση, εκ του οποίου το 17,3% αφορά την καταβολή ενοικίου.» In our translation: Households living in rented accommodation spend, on average, 23.4% of their total monthly budget on housing, of which 17.3% relates to the payment of rent. - [S1] Page 1, headline points: «Το μερίδιο της μέσης δαπάνης για είδη διατροφής και μη οινοπνευματώδη ποτά και στέγαση των νοικοκυριών του φτωχότερου 20% του πληθυσμού ανέρχεται στο 54,4% της συνολικής δαπάνης των νοικοκυριών, ενώ το αντίστοιχο μερίδιο του πλουσιότερου 20% του πληθυσμού ανέρχεται στο 34,5%.» In our translation: The share of average spending on food and non-alcoholic drinks and on housing for households in the poorest 20% of the population is 54.4% of the households' total spending, while the corresponding share for the richest 20% of the population is 34.5%.