Households headed by spiritists had an average expenditure (R$ 4,821.66) twice as big as Pentecostal protestant households (R$ 2,035.01). In the group of Other Current Expenditures, the item pensions, allowances and donations posted significantly higher percentages for mission protestants (20.2%), Pentecostal protestants (19.2%) and other protestants (13.3%). The item represents just 7.6% for spiritist households, 9.2% for Catholic ones and 9.5% for people of no religion and non defined religions.

 

An unprecedented analysis of sporadic travel expenses revealed that the household monthly average expenditure was of R$ 50.16, changing just from R$ 8.46 (monthly household income up to R$ 910) to R$ 147.63 (household income higher than R$ 3,015). Households whose reference person was an employer spent each month an average of R$ 6,373.62, whereas those headed by private employees spent R$ 2,497.12, a difference that became wider between the employers of the South Region (R$ 7,329.52) and employees in the Northeast (R$ 1,632.85). Among domestic workers’ households, regional inequalities were also detected between the Northeast (R$ 865.65) and the Southeast regions (R$ 1,445.22). The weight of transportation in the domestic workers’ budget rose from 9.5% to 11.9% between the two editions of the survey (2002-2003/2008-2009). Housing was the item that recorded the greatest household outlay, reaching R$ 765.89 (29.2%), with the greatest weight registered by one-person households (35.4%) and the least by those of a couple and children (27.3%).

These and further information are part of the Profile of Expenditure in Brazil – Selected Indicators, of the Consumer Expenditure Survey (POF), which visited around 60 thousand urban and rural households, from May 2008 and May 2009. There are data on household expenditures (housing, food, transportation, health, education, rates etc), according to the head’s characteristics, such as age, position at work and religion, as well as household type (one-person, couple with children, couple without children, single mother etc). Additionally, the profile provides unprecedented information on expenses with health, travels and household surroundings’ characteristics. The complete publication can be accessed at

https://www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/populacao/condicaodevida/pof/2008_2009_perfil_despesas/default.shtm.

 

Spiritist households spend twice as much as Pentecostal protestant

 

In the analysis of the expenditure profile concerning the structure of the households’ expenditure - according to the religion of the reference person - those of a spiritist head registered a total household average expenditure (R$ 4,821.66) equal or twice as much as the expenditure of households headed by a Pentecostal protestant (R$ 2,035.01).

In the percentage distribution of the expenditure groups, housing posted the greatest relative contribution in all layers, changing from 28% to 31%, approximately. The group transportation was a highlight with the second greatest contribution among the expenditure groups for households headed by other protestants (17.2%), spiritists (16.2%), mission protestants (16.1%) and other religions (14.9%).  Conversely, the group food products got the second biggest contribution among the households headed by Pentecostal protestants (17.9%), Roman Catholic (16.2%) and no religion and non-defined religion (15.6%). The group other current expenditures stood out with quite superior percentages for the spiritists (14.5%) and for the non-religious and of non-defined religion (13.4%).

In terms of values, even though the figures in the transportation group were similar among the households headed by mission protestants (16.1%), other protestants (17.2%) and spiritists (16.2%), the latter registered the greatest values in “reais” (R$ 780.84), whereas the layers headed by mission protestants and other protestants had average expenses of R$ 454.39 and R$ 476.98, respectively.

In the group Other Current Expenditures, the expenses with pensions, allowances and donations had significantly higher percentages in the households headed by mission protestants (20.2%), Pentecostal protestants (19.2%) and other protestants (13.3%), whereas it represents just 7.6% for the group headed by spiritists, 9.2% for Catholics and 9.5% for no religion or non-defined religion. The average values were of R$ 64.30 for the group mission protestants, R$ 33.40 for Pentecostal protestants and R$ 31.36 for other protestants.  

Conversely, the item taxes had a greater weight for households with spiritist heads (46.3%), other religions (46.5%) and non-religious or with a non-defined religion (48.1%), whereas the item represented 33.0% for Pentecostal protestants, 35.0% for mission protestants and 37.5% for other protestants. In terms of values, in the case of household layers headed by spiritists, this item had an average value of R$ 323.06, i. e., more than twice as the Brazilian average (R$ 121.70) and 5.6 times higher than the layer with the lowest expenditure (Pentecostal protestants with an average expense of R$ 57.34).

 

Households spent an average of R$ 50.16 each month with trips and travels

 

POF 2008-2009 surveyed the average household expenditures with sporadic travels, which are the average expenses with out-of-routine dislocations made by household components headed out of the municipality where their housing unit is located.  The monthly average household expense with this group was of R$ 50.16. For the households with an income of more than R$ 3,015.00 a month, the average expenditure was of R$ 147.63, almost the triple of the national average and almost eighteen times the estimated expenditure for the households with a monthly income up to R$ 910.00, which spent on average R$ 8.46.  

Considering the weight related to the items that integrate the group sporadic travels, the contribution of transportation corresponded to 48.7%, this being the greatest weight in all income layers, reaching 70% for the first two quarters of income (up to R$ 910.00 and between R$ 910.00 and R$ 1,581.00). The second item with the greatest weight was food products, with 22.6%. The items tour packages (average 12.8%) and accommodation and season property rental (average 11.6%) had a much more significant contribution in the household expenditures in the last quarter of income (more than R$ 3,015.00), 16.2% and 13.9%.  

 

 

Higher schooling level is related to greater expenses with trips and travels

 

In the analysis of households’ monthly average expenditures with sporadic travels by the schooling level of the reference person, households in which the schooling level of the head was at least unfinished high school posted an estimate of the monthly average expenditure of R$ 187.61, almost four times higher than the national estimate (R$ 50.16) and more than eight times the estimate of households whose schooling level of the reference person was elementary or below.  

The expenses with transportation were the most significant in the monthly average expenditure with sporadic travels of the Brazilian households according to the head`s level of schooling, changing from 62.4% for the elementary level or below, up to 40.4% for the category between high school and university.   

It was also noticeable that, for households headed by persons with at least unfinished high school, the contribution of touristic packs (19.2%) and accommodation and season property rentals (15.0%) were markedly higher than those of households headed by persons with elementary school or below (4.1% and 5.8%, respectively).

 

Most of expenditures are related to vacation trips

 

The Survey also related travel expenses with its purpose. In the distributional analysis of how often the travels are by types of purpose, the most frequent one was that associated to expenses with leisure, entertainment and vacation (37.9%), followed by visit to relatives and friends (22.3%), business and professional purposes (15.8%) and medical treatment (8%).

Among the major regions, the purpose leisure, entertainment and vacation was the most frequent one in expenses with sporadic travels. The difference seen in the second most frequent purpose stood out: business and professional purposes recorded significant percentages in the North (26.7%) and Northeast regions (22%), whereas visit to relatives and friends was the highlight in the Southeast (22.6%), South (25.4%) and Central-West(25.5%).

 

In the Southeast, households headed by domestic workers had expenses twice as big as those of the Northeast

 

The households with the greatest average expenses were those whose reference person belonged to the employer category (R$ 6,373.62), followed by households of civil workers (R$ 4,327.08), whereas the average expenditure when the head was a private employee was of R$ 2,497.14. The lowest expenses were seen in the households headed by domestic workers (R$ 1,248.09) and own-consumption or own-use workers (R$ 936.44).

Concerning position at work by regions, households headed by private employees presented the highest monthly average expenditure in the Southeast (R$ 2,906.85) and the lowest in the Northeast (RS 1,632.85). When the position at work was civil servant, again the highest household expenditure was seen in the Southeast (R$ 5,198.48) and the lowest, in the Northeast (RS 3,241.08).

In relation to the group of households headed by domestic workers, there was, again, a distinction between the Southeastern and Northeastern households. The former posted a monthly average expenditure of R$ 1,445.22 and, for the latter, it was of R$ 865.65.

The greatest monthly average expenditure of households in the group defined by the position at work as an employer occurred in the South (R$ 7,329.52), whereas the lowest was recorded in the Northeast (R$ 4,532.30). The same happened with the households in the own-account group, where the lowest average expenditure was seen in the Northeast (R$ 1,456.63), and the highest, in the South (R$ 3,068.99). In the household group defined by the position at work as own-consumption or own-use worker, the lowest household expenditure was in the Northeast (R$ 820.88) and the lowest was in the North (R$ 1,513.37). 

 

 

Food products and housing reach 59% of the expenditure in domestic workers’ households  

 

The households headed by a domestic worker had almost 59% of their average expense spent in food products and housing, whereas employers’ households had, for the same items, 37.0% of the total of expenses.  In absolute terms, however, employers’ households spent on these groups 3.7 times the value spent by domestic workers’ households.  In the expenses with the groups food products and housing, the contribution to the household average expenditure of the private employees was at 45.3%, whereas those of civil servants was at 37.4%.

  

Expenditures in the 60-69 age group rose due to a greater income

 

POF revealed that the older the reference person is, the highest the household average expenditure, from R$ 1,238.34 (reference person aged between 10 and 19) up to R$ 3,130.17 (group aged from 50 to 59), then, it falls to R$ 2,815.40 in the 60-69 age group. For the latter household layer, however, there was an expenditure value in the 2002-2003 POF which was similar to the national average expenditure, whereas in the 2008-2009 POF it surpassed the national average in 7%.  One of the possible reasons for that would be the growing participation of this group in the labor market, resulting at a higher contribution for the Brazilian households’ budget.

 

People living alone (one-person households) spend more with housing and health

 

Housing, with 29.2%, was the most significant item in the average expenditure for Brazilian households, whose size decreased from 3.62 to 3.30 people between 2003 and 2009. This contribution was bigger in the one-person households (35.4% of the total expenditure and an average outlay of R$ 662.66) and lower in those of couple with children (27.3%). However, in the households in which the head was a single mother, without a partner, the expenditure with housing represented 32.4% (R$ 648.60) of the total expense, a reduction of 1.9 percentage points in relation to the previous POF.

The average of the household expenditure with health assistance (R$ 153.81) represented 5.9% of the total expense. This group stood out in the one-person households (6.8%), couple without children (6.6%) and couple with children and other relatives (6.5%). The most impressive growth occurred in one-person households (1.0 percentage points) and the sharpest drop in couples without children (1.2 percentage points).

Conversely, expenditures with food products, in Brazil, registered on average 16.1% (R$ 421.72) of the total expenses, varying among the several household types.  The greatest contribution came from the group couple with children and other relatives with 18.2%; on the other hand, the lowest contribution came from one-person households with 14.3%.

In transportation, the average expenditure of the surveyed households in the 2008-2009 POF had almost the same weight of expenses with food products, 16.0%. However, when compared to the 2002-2003 POF, there is a rise of 0.9 percentage points in the item, probably due to the increase in the expenses of couples and couples with children (this type has the highest percentage, 17.7%). 

 

In the rural area, the share of expenses with education is higher at single mothers’ households

 

Despite the huge discrepancy between the number of households settled in the urban and rural areas – 48.8 million in the urban area (84.4%) and just 9.0 million (15.6%) in the rural area – the households’ profile was not very different and, in both situations, there was a decrease in the average number of members (8.6%, in the urban layer and 11.2% in the rural), in relation to the 2002-2003 POF. In both areas, most of the households were composed by couple with children, 41.3% in the urban area and 48.5% in the rural.

Housing posted the greatest weight, either for the urban area, 29.4% (R$ 838.24) and for the rural, 26.8% (R$ 373.88) but, in relation to the previous POF, this group’s expenses rose more in the rural area (1.3 points) than in the urban (0.1 points).   For the households settled in the urban area, the average expenses with transportation and food products had almost the same relative value, 15.8% (R$ 450.28) and 15.3% (R$ 437.45), respectively. They did not record, however, the same representativeness for all household types, with a sharper disparity for single mothers’ households: the expenditures with food products recorded 16.3% of the total against 12.4% of transportation.

With health assistance, the percentages are practically the same: 5.9%  in the urban area and 5.7% in the rural. In the urban centers, one-person households posted a bigger contribution (6.9%) in this group, whereas in the rural area, households with couples without children presented the greatest share (7.6%).

As to the average expenditure of the urban area with education, households composed by couples with children presented the greatest contribution to the total expenditure, with 3.2%. In the rural area, on the other hand, the greater contribution came from households headed by single mothers, with 1.9%.

 

Outlays with medicine correspond to 48.6% of the monthly average household expenditure with health

 

In 2008-2009, the outlays with the group health assistance had a weight of 7.2% (R$ 153.81) in the monthly average consumption expenditure of households.  The analysis of the household outlay priorities points at a possible enhancement of the health conditions of the population or at a hypothesis that the public health service has improved. Among the relative contributions by the group’s items, medicine had the greatest weight (48.6%), followed by health insurance or plans (29.8%). Conversely, the item hospitalization recorded the lowest percentage (0.7%), probably due to the growth, in the last years, of the number of families that have health insurance or health plan and use the public health system.

In the North, Northeast and South regions, the item medicine also led the contributions, with a highlight to the North (57.5%). These regions presented the lowest weight in outlays with Health plan or insurance, the lowest of all, 18.7%, being registered in the North region too.

Between 2002-2003 and 2008-2009, medicine, health insurance or plan and medical treatment and outpatient care were the items that mostly exerted an impact in the total expenses with health. There was also a downfall in the contribution of dental appointment and treatment, medical appointment, surgery and hospitalization.

In the analysis of households by classes of monthly income, medicines had more weight for households with lower incomes (74.2%) against 33.6% of the group with a higher income. On the other hand, the outlays with health plan or insurance recorded 42.3% of the total of expenditures with health in the group of households with higher incomes, whereas, for those of lower incomes, the item represented just 7%.

 

Proximity to high density roads and lack of street paving are key problems

 

The presence of high density roads nearby was one of the main negative characteristics of the household surroundings raised by the Survey (31.8%), with a highlight to the South region (35.8%). The other most troublesome negative aspect was the absence of paving in the household street (31.1%). In the comparison among the major regions, this last indicator was higher in the North (52.6%) and Northeast (46.1%).

Houses, when compared, had the absence of paving as the greatest problem raised, reaching 34.5% of the households (in the regional comparison, in the North it was 54.4% and in the Northeast ,48.9%) As to the apartments, the presence of a high density road nearby was again the main negative aspect raised, with 42.9% in the country and a highlight for the Northeast (61.0%) and the South regions (53.9%).

In the country, the lack of piped water for the household was registered by 7.2% of the households. However, this problem was pointed out by 23.7% of the households in the North region and 18.3% in the Northeast. Of the total of households with piped water in the country, 24.7% did not have any heating systems.

 

More than half of the rural households burn or bury garbage in the property

 

Of the total of surveyed households, 80.7% had garbage directly collected and just 10.2% burned or buried garbage in the property. Nevertheless, in the rural area, 57.7% burned or buried waste and only 24.4% had direct collection. Among the Federation Units, Maranhão had the lowest percentage of households with direct collection (51.1%) and the highest percentage with buried or burned garbage in the property (33.4%). At the other extreme, São Paulo comes up, with 94.5% and 1.7%, respectively.

All over the country, 29.7% of the households separated garbage into biodegradable and non-biodegradable material. But, of this contingent, just in 40% had the separation the purpose of contributing to selective collection.  Among the Federation Units, Paraná stood out, with 64.6% of the households with garbage separation and, of this total, 60.5% were destined to selective collection. Conversely, in Amapá and Maranhão, only 2.0% of the households separated garbage.