The average Italian household spent 2,564 euros a month in 2017, up 1.6% on the previous year, ISTAT said on Tuesday. The national statistics agency added, however, that this was still below the average spending of 2,640 in 2011.
It said there was a big difference between spending in wealthy and less wealthy areas of the country.
The average monthly expenditure in the north-east was 2,875 euros, compared to 1,983 on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.
The agency reported an "increase in inequality of the distribution of spending" with the expenditure of the families that spend less down 5% last year, while it was up 4.3% for those that spend more.
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