In 2021, the material situation of households improved slightly compared to 2020. Households achieved both higher income and expenditure, says the Central Statistical Office (CSO) report on the study of the condition of household budgets in Poland in 2021, published on 29 September.

According to the CSO, the level of average monthly disposable income per person in 2021 amounted to PLN 2062 and was 2.2% higher in real terms (7.4% in nominal terms) than in 2020. Average monthly expenditure per person in households reached PLN 1316 in 2021 and was 3.5% higher in real terms (nominally by 8.8%) than in 2020.

In 2021, there was still a relatively large variation in average monthly income and expenditure between different socio-economic groups of households.

The CSO points out that the income situation of households has a clear impact on the level and structure of expenditure. The budgets of the poorest families are most burdened by expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as on the dwelling and energy carriers. Among the 20% of people with the lowest income, average monthly expenditure on meeting basic needs from two groups together including food and non-alcoholic beverages ans well as the dwelling and energy carriers, accounted for a total of 48.0% of total expenditure, while in the 20% of people with the highest income they made up only 38.6% of total expenditure.

In 2021, the percentage of households assessing their material situation as rather good or good was 53.0% (in 2020 – 51.6%), while households perceiving it as rather bad or bad was 5.1% (in 2020 – 5.8%). The subjective assessment of the material situation of households is systematically improving in all socio-economic groups except pensioners.

Adrian Andrzejewski