Euro area reports up in household income per capita 

In the euro area, in real terms, household income per capita increased by 0.2% in the third quarter of 2016, after an increase of also 0.2% in the previous quarter. Household real consumption per capita increased by 0.3% in the third quarter of 2016, after an increase of 0.1% in the second quarter of 2016.

Euro area real growth of household income and consumption per capita, % (seasonally adjusted)

In the EU28 household real income per capita increased by 0.1% in the third quarter of 2016, after an increase of 0.4% in the previous quarter. Household real consumption per capita increased by 0.7% in the third quarter of 2016, after an increase of 0.3% in the second quarter of 2016.

EU28 real growth of household income and consumption per capita, % (seasonally adjusted)

These data come from a detailed set of seasonally adjusted quarterly European sector accounts released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union and the European Central Bank (ECB). The dataset is available on the Eurostat website, and the key indicators are also discussed in Statistics Explained.

Geographical information

The euro area (EA19) consists of 19 Member States: Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland; plus the European Central Bank and European Stability Mechanism.

The European Union (EU28) consists of 28 Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom; plus the EU institutions.

Methods and definitions

Household real income per capita is defined as the adjusted gross disposable income of households, in nominal terms, divided by the total population (source: National Accounts) and by the deflator (price index) of household final consumption expenditure.

Household real consumption per capita is defined as the actual final consumption expenditure of households, in nominal terms, divided by the total population (source: National Accounts) and by the deflator (price index) of household final consumption expenditure.

The compilation of the European sector accounts follows the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA2010) and covers the period from the first quarter of 1999 onwards.

Institutional sectors bring together economic units with broadly similar characteristics and behaviour, namely: households (including non-profit institutions serving households), non-financial corporations, financial corporations, government and the rest of the world. In the latter, to measure the external transactions of the euro area / European Union, it is necessary to remove cross-border flows within the area concerned.

Eurostat’s website includes detailed annual and quarterly sector accounts of Member States of the European Economic Area and derived key indicators published around 120 days after each quarter (which also cover annual indicators such as debt-toincome ratios). A subset of quarterly key indicators is published around 102 days after each quarter.

Due to the conversion to euro, the growth rates of European Union aggregates may be affected by movements in exchange rates.

Revisions and timetable

A first release, focussing on data for household saving and investment rates in the euro area, is published around 102 days after each quarter.

Compared with News Release 212/2016 of 28 October 2016, the growth rate of household income per capita in real terms for the second quarter of 2016 remains unchanged for the EA19 and has been revised from +0.5% to +0.4% for the EU28. The growth rate of household consumption per capita in real terms has been revised from 0.0% to +0.1% for the EA19 and from +0.4% to +0.3% for the EU28.

Source: eurostat

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