More people are eating out, 2015 data shows

People spent less on food and non-alcoholic beverages but significantly more on education and on restaurants and hotels in 2015, according to a Household Budgetary Survey, just published by the National Statistics Office.  The NSO said that in 2015 expenditure share on food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased from 2008 (by 2.7 percentage points), but remained the category on which households spent the largest share of their expenditure on. The categories which experienced the largest average per week expenditure increases were Education (an increase of 82.4 per cent) and restaurants and hotels (an increase of 34.5 per cent).  Family 65.1 per cent of the total population in 2015 was composed of households without dependent children, with the remaining (34.9 per cent) being households with dependent children. Households which were considered to be elderly households (where the reference person was aged 65 and over) spent less than half as much as households of all other age groups, on average. Housing 70.9 per cent of households were homeowners. Of the remainder, 16.5 per cent were paying rent on their main dwelling, while the rest had an alternative arrangement. Households who...