As the high cost of living continues to squeeze household budgets, millions of Italians are being forced into painful daily cutbacks. According to the latest report from the national statistics agency ISTAT, 29.4% of families reported limiting their spending on food compared to the previous year, cutting back on either the quantity or quality of their groceries, down slightly from 31.1% in 2024. The picture is similarly grim for beverages, with roughly a third of the population (33.8%) scaling back their purchases. Non-food sectors are seeing widespread, capillary cutbacks as well.
Mirroring trends from the past three years, clothing and footwear remain the primary target for household budget trims. Excluding those who spent nothing in this category, 43.8% of Italians actively tried to spend less on apparel, a figure that jumps to 52.1% in Italy's southern regions. On a macro level, average monthly household consumption stood at €2,782 in current values, appearing stable compared to €2,755 the previous year. However, because wealth distribution is heavily skewed toward lower brackets, the median spending level drops to €2,338, highlighting that the majority of families survive on amounts well below the national average.