• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past Releases

Final consumption expenditure and actual final consumption: summary

14.340 The purpose of this section is to summarise the conceptual interrelationship between the main consumption aggregates for the three sectors in which final consumption takes place, namely, the household sector, the NPISH sector and the general government sector. On a practical level, it may be noted that each of the aggregates, whether referring to consumption expenditure or actual final consumption, has to be derived from data on expenditures.

The expenditure aggregates

14.341 The main expenditure aggregates are as follows:

(a) Household final consumption expenditure consists of the expenditure, including imputed expenditure, incurred by resident households on individual consumption goods and services, including those sold to them at prices that are not economically significant.

(b) Final consumption expenditure of NPISHs consists of the expenditure, including imputed expenditure, incurred by resident NPISHs on individual consumption goods and services. The expenditures of NPISHs are currently included with the expenditure of households in ASNA.

(c) Government final consumption expenditure consists of expenditure, including imputed expenditure, incurred by general government on both individual consumption goods and services and collective consumption services. This expenditure may be divided into:

(i) government expenditure on individual consumption goods and services; and

(ii) government expenditure on collective consumption services.

Actual final consumption

14.342 NPISHs have no actual final consumption, and so actual final consumption is confined to households and general government.

Actual final consumption of households

14.343 This is measured by the value of all the individual consumption goods and services acquired by resident households. There are three sets of goods and services entering into household actual final consumption:

• those acquired through expenditure by households themselves: their value is given by item (a) in paragraph 14.341;

• those acquired as social transfers in kind from NPISHs: their value is given by item (b) in paragraph 14.341; and

• those acquired as social transfers in kind from general government: their value is given by item (c) (i) in paragraph 14.341.

Actual final consumption of general government

14.344 This is measured by the value of the collective consumption services provided to the community, or large sections of the community, by general government. Its value is given by item (c) (ii) in paragraph 14.341.

Total final consumption in the economy

14.345 Total final consumption in the economy may be viewed from two angles. It may be defined from the expenditure side as the total value of all expenditures on individual and collective consumption goods and services incurred by resident households, resident NPISHs serving households and general government units. Alternatively, it may be defined in terms of actual final consumption, as the value of all the individual goods and services acquired by resident households plus the value of the collective services provided by general government to the community or large sections of the community.

14.346 The coverage of the goods and services is the same in both cases. In order to ensure that the values of the two aggregates are the same, the goods and services acquired by resident households through transfers in kind must always be valued at the prices at which they are valued in the expenditure aggregates, and the time of recording the goods and services acquired by transfers in kind must be the same as the time of recording in the expenditure aggregates.