Which EU countries spend the most on sporting goods?

In 2020, among the 22 EU countries for which data are available, 4 registered an average household expenditure on sporting goods and services above 500 purchasing power standard (PPS). PPS is an artificial currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries.

On top of the list was Luxembourg (628 PPS), closely followed by the Netherlands (622), Austria (620) and Germany (526).

At the other end of the scale, average household expenditure was inferior to 100 PPS in Bulgaria (24), Slovakia (66), Lithuania (87) and Poland (95).

Recreational and sporting services: biggest spending category

Among the various sporting goods and services, the category in which EU households spent the most in 2020 was recreational and sporting services. In almost all the EU countries with available data, the highest share of spending in the field was on recreational and sporting services. The only exception was Greece where the highest share was devoted to major durables for outdoor recreation (69.0%).

Mean household spending on recreational and sporting services was the highest in Cyprus with a share of 93.7%, followed by Bulgaria and Croatia with 81.3% and 79.3%, respectively. The lowest shares were observed in Greece (19.2%), Denmark (43.7%) and Belgium (46.8%).

Expenditure on equipment for sport, camping and open-air recreation represented the second highest share of household budgets in 14 EU countries with available data. This share ranged from 3.7% in Cyprus to 42.3% in Slovakia.

Besides Greece, where the household expenditure on major durables for outdoor recreation had the highest share, this category was the second largest item in household budgets for sporting goods in Belgium (36.7%), Denmark (33.7%), Luxembourg (29.2%), Lithuania (27.2%), Malta (19.3%), the Netherlands (18.1%) and France (16.5%). Hungary (0.4%) and Bulgaria (0.8%) recorded the lowest shares of household expenditure on major durables for outdoor recreation.

More information: Eurostat