Data Overview

I. Household Income and Expenditure

1. One-person Households? Income and Expenditure

(1) All households

The average one-person household living expenditures for all households per months from October to November 2004 was ?183,424. By sex, it came to ?191,490 for men and ?176,045 for women. Among the components of living expenditures, men spent the most on food (?45,678), followed, in order, by ?other living expenditure? such as social expenses (?33,295), transportation & communication (?30,342), housing (?30,200), and reading & recreation (?27,759). Women, on the other hand, spent the most on ?other living expenditure? (?39,940), followed in order by food (?32,896), housing (?29,327), reading and recreation (?20,154), and transportation and communication (?18,433). (Table I-1, Figure I-1)

Table I-1 Breakdown of Average Monthly Living Expenditures for All Households by Sex

Figure I-1 All Households? Average Monthly Living Expenditures by Sex Classified by Expenses

(2) Workers? households

A. Income

Average monthly one-person household income from October to November 2004 was ?310,112 for workers? households. By sex, it was ?344,747 for men and ?256,298 for women. Average monthly disposable income came to ?263,141. By sex, it was ?291,316 for men and ?219,364 for women. (Table I-2, Figure I-2)

B. Living expenditure

Average monthly one-person household living expenditures for workers? household from October to November 2004 were ?204,219. By sex, they were ?208,829 for men and ?197,056 for women. Among the components of living expenditures, men spent the most on food (?50,231), followed in order by transportation and communication (?36,635), other living expenditure (?34,925), housing (?33,634), reading and recreation (?30,176). Women spent the most on housing (?39,535), followed in order by other living expenditures (?37,837), food (?34,989), transportation and communication (?25,083), and reading and recreation (?21,644). The average propensity to consume (living expenditures? share of disposable income) was 77.6%. By sex, it was 71.7% for men and 89.8% for women. (Table I-2, Figure I-2)

Table I-2 Average Workers? Households Monthly Income and Expenditures Breakdown by Sex

Figure I-2 Average Monthly Workers? Households Income and Expenditures by Sex

(3) Age groups

A. Living expenditure

For the average one-person household living expenditures for all households seen by age group for the month of October and November 2004, men?s living expenditures increased in each age group up to those in their 40s, but each age group from those in their 50s on spent less than those under 30 years old. Women?s expenditure increased in each age group up to their 40s, then decreased in each age group from those in their 50s on. Comparing male and female living expenditures by age group, women in their 50s and 60s spent more than men, but men spent more than women in all other age groups. Further, although men under 50 years old nominally spent less in each age group compared to living expenditures by age in 1999, their expenditures actually increased when taking consumer price fluctuations into account, while declining for those in their 50s and 60s and increasing in the group 70 years or older. There were nominal increases for women in all age groups other than those in their 50s and 60s, whose expenditure fell, and actual increases in all age groups except the group in its 50s, whose expenditure decreased. (Figure I-3)

Figure I-3 All Households? Average Monthly Living Expenditures and Real Rate of Increase/Decrease by Age and Sex

B. Comparison according to items of expenditures

Among the components of one-person household expenditures by age group, food is the largest component of expenditures and accounted for around a quarter for all male age groups.Housing accounted for 20 to 30%, the largest share for female age groups under 50 years old, while other living expenditures including ceremonial expenses and social expenses accounted for a quarter, the highest amount for all groups 50 and over. Comparing men and women, food represented around 20% for all female age groups and men in all age groups spent more than women on food. Except for those in their 60s, men also spent more than women on recreational durable goods, and reading & recreation such as game expenses (the share was the same for men ane women in their 60s). Men in all age groups, except for those in their 50s, spent more than women on transportation & communication including private transportation. In contrast, along with clothes & footwear that exceeded men?s in all age groups, women, except for those in their 40s, spent more than men on other living expenditures in all age groups. (Figure I-4)

Figure I-4 All Households? Itemized Living Expenditures by Age and Sex

2. One-person Workers? Household Income and Expenditures of the under 30 Years Old Age Group