ECB publishes new statistical report on the Household Sector

• Detailed quarterly information on the household sector
• Report covers cycle of private households’ economic and financial activities
• Presents key indicators for the euro area and comparison across countries

The European Central Bank (ECB) is today publishing a new quarterly Household Sector Report. The statistical compilation focuses on the household sector in the euro area as a whole and in each of the 19 euro area countries. It shows the private households’ economic and financial behaviour, from the point when income is generated, through its use for consumption and saving, the investment in non-financial and financial assets, the incurrence of debt and the impact of price changes on non-financial and financial assets to, finally, the change of net worth. The diagram below illustrates the structure of the report.

Economic and financial life of households

The report is divided into two sections: the first section has graphs for the entire euro area, each accompanied by two related charts that draw comparisons across euro area countries; the second section presents the same graphs for each country to illustrate country developments for the key indicators.

The ECB created the new statistical publication in response to the increasing demand for detailed data on the household sector and its central role in the economy. The report shows macroeconomic statistics for the euro area, by country, per capita or as ratios relative to gross disposable income. Although it compares the entire household sector across the euro area, the report does not contain distributional information referring to individual households or groups of households.

Most of the data shown in the report are drawn from the euro area accounts, which combine the quarterly financial and non-financial accounts by institutional sector for the euro area. Euro area aggregates are compiled by the ECB and Eurostat; national data are produced by national central banks and national statistical institutes.

The Household Sector Report will be published every quarter, within two weeks of the release of the dataset showing euro area economic and financial developments by institutional sector.

For media queries, please contact Stefan Ruhkamp, tel.: +49 69 1344 5057.

Notes:

• Further press releases and methodological information on the underlying data are available at in the section Euro area accounts.
• The next quarterly release of the Household Sector Report is scheduled for 9 February 2016.