Actual individual consumption includes all spending on goods and services that serves the purpose of directly fulfilling individual human needs. Actual individual consumption differs from household spending on consumption. The difference between these two concepts is that the former includes goods and services that the government or non-profit institutions fund for the benefits of households, and provide to those households in the form of social transfers in kind.
It thus includes most public spending on health care, education and social protection. Consumption by non-profit institutions that serve households is counted as individual consumption in its entirety.
Actual individual household consumption is calculated as: household spending on consumption, plus spending by non-profit institutions that serve households, plus individual consumption by the government. Back to article