Almost half of European household spending goes to food, housing, energy and transport.

Omissions

• The exact combined share is about 46% (Eurostat data for 2025, reported in September 2026), which is somewhat below a literal 'half' but reasonably described as 'almost half'.
• In Eurostat's COICOP classification, energy (electricity, gas and other fuels) is not a separate category but is grouped together with housing ('Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels'); the speaker's listing of 'housing and energy' as distinct items corresponds to this single aggregated category plus transport and food.
• The two secondary sources available both derive from the same Eurostat data release, so they do not constitute two genuinely independent confirmations; no primary Eurostat page quoting the exact 46% aggregate could be retrieved within the search budget.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat — Household consumption by purpose (Statistics Explained)'In 2024, EU total household expenditure amounted to 51.8% of GDP, registering a slight decrease compared with 2023 (51.9% of GDP)'. The page presents household final consumption expenditure broken down by COICOP purpose (food, housing/water/electricity/gas, transport, etc.).
• SecondaryEunews (citing Eurostat)Headline: 'Eurostat: 46 per cent of EU household spending goes to food, housing and transport'. Article states that 'in January 2026, European households spend almost half of their expenditure on food, housing and transport' and that 'the share of expenditure on food fell from 16.8 per cent in 2024 to 16.4 per cent in 2025, whilst transport and housing each ...'.
• SecondaryEuronews'Nearly half - about 46% - of all money spent by EU households goes to three basic things: food, housing and energy, and transport.'