Slovaks spend more on food, less on energy

What do Slovaks spend their income on? Food accounts for the largest share of the consumer basket—as defined by the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic to reflect the expenses of a typical Slovak household—currently taking up 18 percent of it. This is slightly less than last year, but still more than before the pandemic began. Conversely, there are items on which households have been able to save relatively more compared to pre-pandemic years, despite price increases.

Slovakia still has above-average inflation compared to the eurozone average (3.2%). According to Eurostat’s flash estimate, price growth in Slovakia slowed in May of this year, but it still stands at 4% year-over-year, driven primarily by rising prices for energy, fuel, housing, and services. Naturally, consumers base their spending decisions on these factors—and this shapes the composition of their specific consumer basket.

“In addition to inflation, we’re also interested in changes in the composition of the average consumer basket. This is because it’s influenced not only by price increases themselves, but also by consumer preferences and households’ reactions to inflation in various consumption categories,” says Michal Lehuta, a macroeconomist at VÚB Bank.

People have to eat and keep the lights on

Since the pre-pandemic year of 2019, food has solidified its position as the largest consumer expenditure category in Slovakia. According to analysts at the National Bank of Slovakia, it is precisely this category that influences households’ perception of overall inflation, even though its weight in the consumer basket is currently less than 20 percent.

In 2019, however—that is, before the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic—spending on food accounted for just over 15 percent of average spending as measured by the consumer basket. That share then began to rise, peaking in 2023 and 2024. The wave of inflation from 2022 to 2023, during which food prices in Slovakia rose by nearly 40 percent, certainly contributed to this trend.

The second-largest category of Slovaks’ spending is energy: electricity, gas, and other fuels. Paradoxically, despite significant price increases since 2022—when Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine began—their share of the consumer basket has actually decreased (currently standing at just 8.2%).

This suggests that households have begun to conserve energy more, but also that the government continues to subsidize energy costs for the majority of the population.

More Spending on Restaurants, Too

In recent years, the restaurants and lodging category has climbed to third place in the consumer basket, just behind energy (8%), which may reflect both the growing popularity of prepared meals—including takeout—and, once again, the rise in their prices.

Another traditionally strong category in the Slovak consumer basket is so-called imputed rent, i.e., an estimate of the costs of owning one’s own home. The Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic tracks actual expenses related to the maintenance and ownership of housing in this way. Therefore, items such as the purchase of building materials for renovations, payments for skilled labor, goods for home maintenance, and contributions to the building’s operating, maintenance, and repair fund are included in imputed rent within the Slovak consumer basket. Imputed rent still accounted for 10.4% of the consumer basket in 2024; it currently stands at 7.9%.

Compared to previous years, the information and communication category—which also includes telephone, television, and streaming services—has grown more significantly in the basket used to calculate inflation in 2026. Slovaks clearly have no intention of cutting back on these services. Their share of the consumer basket exceeded five percent this year, surpassing the alcohol and tobacco category, which, conversely, fell below this threshold.