Household Budget Survey 2023 – Main Results & Updated weights for the Consumer Price Index
Highlights
Statistics Mauritius conducted the eleventh Household Budget Survey (HBS) from January to December 2023 in the Republic of Mauritius. The survey studied the consumption pattern of the population living in private households in Mauritius and Rodrigues with a view to updating the basket of goods and services used for the computation of the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Prior to the Household Budget Survey (HBS) 2023, Statistics Mauritius was using the COICOP 1999 to classify the different expenditure of items of goods and services however, as from now, the expenditure of items of goods and services which forms part of the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket will be classified under the COICOP 2018.
Income
1. Average monthly household disposable income increased by 51.1% from Rs 36,803 in 2017 to Rs 55,600 in 2023. The real increase, i.e., after adjusting for an inflation rate of 31.2% and decrease in household size (from 3.4 to 3.2), works out to 22.4%.
2. In 2023, there were 2.1 income earners for an average household of size 3.2, higher as compared to 2.0 income earners for an average household of size 3.4 in 2017.
Expenditure
3. Average monthly household consumption expenditure increased by 45.6% from Rs 28,750 in 2017 to Rs 41,870 in 2023. The real increase, i.e. after adjusting for an inflation rate of 31.2% and decrease in household size (from 3.4 to 3.2), works out to 18.0%.
4. Food and non-alcoholic beverages' constituted the largest share of household consumption expenditure (25%) followed by 'Transport' (16%), 'Alcoholic beverages and tobacco' (11%), 'Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels' (10%) and, 'Information and Communication' (7%).
5. The highest increases in household expenditure from 2017 to 2023, were registered in 'Health', 'Transport' and 'Food and non-alcoholic beverages'. Average monthly household expenditure on 'Health' rose by 88.1% from Rs 1,090 to Rs 2,050, on Transport' by 56.7% from Rs 4,230 to Rs 6,630 and on 'Food and non-alcoholic beverages' by 46.4% from Rs 7,160 to Rs 10,480. Conversely, average household expenditure on 'Education services' fell by 6.9%, from Rs 1,440 to Rs 1,340.
CPI weights
6. The highest weight in the CPI is that of the COICOP division 'Food and non-alcoholic beverages' which registered an increase from 249 to 250 largely due to increases in the number of items falling under the Group – Food (for example, pre-cooked food).
7. 'Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels' had a lower share of expenditure in the overall CPI basket in 2023, compared to 2017 (112 in 2017 to 100 in 2023) mainly due to lower weight for 'Water Charges' (from 7 in 2017 to 5 in 2023), 'Electricity' (from 37 in 2017 to 30 in 2023) and 'Cooking gas' (from 10 in 2017 to 9 in 2023);
8. The weight for 'Health' had an increase from 38 in 2017 to 49 in 2023 mainly due to higher weight for 'Hospital services' (from 9 in 2017 to 15 in 2023) and 'Pharmaceutical products' (from 10 in 2017 to 16 in 2023). It is to be noted that prices for this division increased by 31.4% during that period.
9. The weight for 'Transport' rose from 147 to 159, mainly due to higher weight of gasoline (from 46 in 2017 to 64 in 2023) and also inclusion of newer items like 'Car Rental' (negligible in 2017 and 1 in 2023) and 'Passenger transport by light rail' (nil in 2017 and 1 in 2023).
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April 2024
