§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what percentage of household expenditure is spent on: (a) food, and (b) drink; and how this compares with similar expenditure in the rest of the EEC and the United States of America.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe table below shows household expenditure on food—excluding soft drinks and meals out—as a percentage of total household expenditure in 1976, the latest year for which broadly comparable figures are available.
United Kingdom 18.3 Germany 16.2 France 19.5 Italy 31.3 Netherlands 18.8 Belgium 20.5 Luxembourg (1974) 21.2 Ireland (1975) 26.3 Denmark 20.4 United States 13.7 Source: EEC countries: SOEC yearbook of national accounts 1976. United States: UN yearbook of national accounts statistics, volume I.
Household expenditure on alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink in the United Kingdom—including expenditure in on licence premises—in 1976 was 8.8 per cent. of total household expenditure. Comparable figures are not available for other countries.