We know households have different consumption patterns – very much depending on how much money they have, where they live and what social group they belong to -, but the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) has created a reference pattern, based on data from 2019. Nearly a quarter (23.5%) of household expenditure was devoted to rent and bills (water, electricity, gas and heating) -the largest expenditure item. The second largest household expenditure item was “transport” (13.1%), closely followed by “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” (13.0%). Then “Restaurants and hotels” and “Recreation and culture” got 8.7% of household budget. The remaining household spending was distributed over “Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance” (5.5%); “Clothing and footwear” (4.6%); “Health” (4.4%); “Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics” (4.0%); “Communications” (2.4%); “Education” (0.9%); and “Other” (11.2%) – all of these items together represented around a third (33.0%) of total expenditure in 2019. Eurostat specifies that “this article shows the situation before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic”, which “might” impact the 2020 data (to be published next year).