Insee Première · June 2022 · n° 1908

In 2021, household consumption rebounded but remained below its pre-crisis trend

In 2021, household final consumption expenditure rebounded by 5.2% in volume, after a historic fall of 6.7% in 2020 due to the health crisis linked to the Covid-19 epidemic. With the exception of food spending, which declined, all consumption items increased. Spending on hotels and restaurants, transportation, clothing and footwear, and leisure and culture all showed a clear rebound, but their levels for the year remained below the trend of previous years. On the contrary, health care spending, whether directly financed by households or paid for by the public sector, rose sharply and was above the pre-crisis trend.

At the same time, purchasing power of households increased (+2.3%, after +0.2% in 2020), driven by a 4.0% increase in gross disposable income, and despite the rise in prices (+1.6%) due to higher energy prices. The household savings rate fell by 2.3 percentage points but remained at a much higher level than before the crisis.