A study into consumer spending has shown that Croatians dedicate a larger percentage of the money they spend towards buying food than in almost every other European country. Figures collated by the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture ranked consumer spending by the actual amount spent and what percentage of the overall expenditure went towards two specific categories. One category was food, the other was alcohol and tobacco.
People in Switzerland, Hong Kong and Israel spend the most on food. The amount of money Croatians spend on food is actually very close to that which is spent in other European countries such as Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Lithuania. However, in each of those countries, and in every other country in the European Union, that figure is a much smaller percentage of the total money spent.
Almost 24% of Croatians total expenditure goes on food. The amount of money Americans spend on food is comparable, however that amount is only 6.3% of what they spend. Neighbours in Serbia also dedicate around 24% of their expenditure towards food, although the actual money they spend on it is less than half of the amount in Croatia. In Bosnia-Herzegovina the percentage is over 31.
2.6% of Croatian expenditure goes on alcohol and tobacco. That is a comparable percentage to people in Mexico, Peru, India, Vietnam and South Korea. People in every other European country dedicate a larger percentage of their money to alcohol and cigarettes. In Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina the percentage that went towards alcohol and cigarettes was over 6%, in Serbia 7.2%, in Russia 7.4%, Latvia 7.6%, Czech Republic 8.3%, Hungary 8.4%. People in Estonia and Belarus prize booze and fags the most, dedicating 8.6% of their spends towards them.