ITALIAN CONSUMER SPENDING FROM POSTWAR TO TODAY HAS TOPPLED: FOOD AND BEVERAGE SHOPPING HAS DROPPED FROM 80% IN 1945 (54% DURING THE WAR) TO 18.5% TODAY, REVEALS THE MOST RECENT CONFCOMMERCIO SURVEY

Since the postwar period, Italian consumers’ spending on food and drink has dropped from 80% of the total in 1945 (54% before the war) to 18.5% today, revealed Italian association of merchants Confcommercio published for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the association, celebrated today in Rome.
In 1955 consumption had already diversified and the share of non-food goods and services had reached 39%, while food went down to 50%. In the last 60 years this trend has gradually increased. Today, in our post-industrial society, consumption of non-food goods and services exceeds 75%, while spending on food accounts for less than 20%.

Consumption of clothing and footwear has also taken a fall (it was 10.7% of total expenditure in 1955, while in 2014 it was 6.1%). The "other goods and services", such as communication, transportation and tourism have significantly increased their share from 39% in 1955 to 75.4% in 2014. Tourism has more than doubled. In 1965 the number of tourists staying in hotels did not exceed 100 million, in 1975 140 million, of which just under 50 million came from abroad, while today the hotel tourism in Italy has over 250 million visitors, including about 130 million foreigners.