Taiwan News
Date: 2018/09/02
By: Central News Agency
(By Central News Agency)
Taipei, Sept. 2 (CNA) More and more people in Taiwan do not spend time in the kitchen but eat at foodstalls and restaurants, according to the latest government data on household expenditure indicating that spending in restaurants and hotels rose to a historic high in 2017.
Such spending accounted for 12 percent of all household expenditure last year, the highest since 1976, when spending in restaurants and hotels was a mere 2.48 percent, statistics released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) in August show.
The 12 percent represents about NT$97,000 (US$3,158) in terms of the average sum spent by every household in restaurants and hotels last year, according to DGBAS officials.
In 2017, each household in the country spent an average NT$812,000 annually, most of which went on housing, electricity, water, gas and other fuels, accounting for 23.9 percent of the total, the statistics show.
Expenditure in food, beverages and tobacco was the second-highest at 15.6 percent, followed by healthcare at 15.25 percent, transport and communication at 12.87 percent, and recreation, culture and education at 9.55 percent. [FULL STORY]