The decision to expand the household entails responsibilities at various levels and the financial factor is also one of the aspects that must be taken into account when taking that step. In the first six months after the birth of the first child, a family’s monthly expenses increase by 20%, compared to the pre-pregnancy period, according to data released this Tuesday 23 by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) .
Expenditure on supermarkets and retail, which also includes the purchase of clothing, appliances and other consumer goods, weighs most on the household budget, with an increase of 52%. The monthly bill for new parents is even worse with 36% higher spending on health, 16% on electricity and gas and 9% on the water bill.
Household expenses start to increase from the fourth month of pregnancy and decrease in the seventh month, when the increase averages 16.8%. In the month of birth, “family expenses peak, averaging 19.7% higher in the first six months after birth compared to the months leading up to the onset of pregnancy,” according to health spending. e-bill before and after the birth of the first child of the households included in the IRS.
Education is another regular cost for families, but it doesn’t start to weigh on the monthly budget until later. “Educational expenditure shows a different behavior as it decreases between the period of pregnancy and the sixth month of life, but then rises and stabilizes around a permanent increase of 26.3% from the ninth month of life,” the INE continues.
Transport, accommodation and catering help balance the bills
Despite the high costs of having a child for a family, there is a reduction in other costs that help to balance the monthly budget of new parents. Expenditure on transportation, housing and catering, and recreational activities and shows decline during the gestational period, with an abrupt drop at birth.
“Expenditure on transport, housing and catering gradually begins to decrease from the third month of pregnancy, drastically reducing in the month of birth and in the month after birth, with a reduction in transport costs in the month after birth 52.9%, and a reduction in accommodation and catering costs of 55.6%, compared to pre-pregnancy amounts,” the agency notes.
From the second month of the baby, these burdens gradually begin to increase again, but they are still far from pre-pregnancy levels. There is one exception, however: the bill for lodging and dining expenses rises by 4.2%, temporarily in the first 12 months of baby’s life “probably due to expenses related to the celebration of the baby’s first year of life. child”, INE justifies.
Rute Simão is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
