Consumption: in 30 years, technology and leisure overtake food

How have household consumption patterns changed over time? The answer comes from Confcommercio. It reviews thirty years of Italian history.

However, the analysis released in August by the Confederation’s Research Department does not lack many insights into the 2007-2026, or 20 years.

In 2026 real spending is growing

This year real per-capita spending on purchases reached 23.261 euros (it was 19.877 euros in 1995), with an increase of 314 euros compared with 2025, exceeding pre-Covid levels, but also the peak of 2007 (22.975 euros), which nevertheless coincided with the beginning of the global financial crisis.

This trend, also encouraged by the steady growth in employment and incomes, did not, however, enable the demand standards of all segments to recover fully.

The surges in technology (IT and telecommunications) and leisure-related services led the long sprint, with a “monster” change in per-person amounts. Over 1995, 30 years, we are talking about a positive change of 3.200% for the two categories, ICT and technology in the broadest sense.

Over the same period, they increased, but decidedly less, the cultural and recreational services: +137%.

Few other categories show structural signs of expansion: this is the case with catering (+25,3%) and spending on travel and holidays (+17,2%), which, nevertheless, have not yet returned to pre-pandemic averages.

Consumers are setting aside material goods

Slightly declining, on the other hand, household food consumption (-3,5% over the last three decades), also due to highly complex demographic trends and the growth in meals eaten away from home.

Among the less dynamic baskets, although positive, continue to be clothing and footwear (+6,2%), with demand now appearing to be more oriented towards garments with lower intrinsic value (fast fashion), and furniture and household goods (+5,9%).

A separate discussion concerns energy for household use (-37,4%), which is contracting significantly due to greater prudence, but also thanks to the growing use of technology-based energy-saving products and systems.

Real per-capita spending, after the decline recorded between 2007 and 2019, has begun, in recent years, a gradual recovery that should materialise in the first half of 2026.

This was encouraged, as mentioned, by the marked progress recorded in employment: from the January low 2021 the number of people employed in the production process increased by more than 2,2 million.

In terms of the distribution of consumption, long-term analyses clearly highlight the progressive dematerialisation of household spending: fewer physical goods and more services.

Thus, IT and telecommunications rose from less than 8 euros per person in 1995 to 252 euros today, also thanks to the transformation of certain products (mobile phones and PCs) and their related functions into indispensable goods and, for this reason, much more accessible.

Entertainment and culture: +240 euros per capita

The same applies to entertainment, leisure and holidays, which bring the estimated volume of purchases to 637 euros in 2026 compared with 394 euros in 2007 (+243 euros).

Even the increase in spending on housing, as property in which to invest (despite continually rising prices), did not halt the growth of experience-based consumption. Instead, it accelerated a shift in the cultural model, in which families choose to manage spending on material goods (clothing, food and furnishings) more rigorously in order to continue funding travel, dining out, culture and many other opportunities related to work, leisure and socialising.

Read also the Confcommercio-Swg survey on the growth of cultural consumption, updated to 2026

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.