It’s interesting to see newly released statistics on household spending in New Zealand - what exactly are we throwing our hard-earned dollars away on?

The Household Economic Survey for the year ended 30 June 2007 was released at the end of last month. The survey provides a comprehensive range of statistics relating to income and expenditure. Some things you might not know about recent household spending trends in New Zealand:

• The average weekly total household expenditure was $956.
• The three largest components of household spending were housing and utilities (23%), food (16%) and transport (14%).
• Households in the Wellington region (our cultural capital) had the highest spend on recreation and culture, at $120 per week.
• Average annual household income was $67,973 for the year, a rise of 10.2% from the 2003/04 year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly we’re getting more techno-fied too, with around one in every five households owning more than one kind of computer - that is, a desktop computer, laptop or hand-held device.

And another pleasing result to come out of the survey - the majority of us (75% in fact) are satisfied or very satisfied with our standard of living. Great to hear!

You can find many more interesting New Zealand statistics online.