The average South African household is consuming more goods and services, and is still spending most of its money on housing, food and transport.

That is according to Statistics South Africa’s newly published changes to the average South African household’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket of goods and the new weights for the CPI.

The weights indicate which items South African households spend more money on, while the CPI basket of goods indicate which products most South Africans are buying – an indicator of the cost of living.

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According to Patrick Kelly, chief director responsible for price statistics at Stats SA, the new weights reflect that South Africans still consistently spend the bulk of their income on housing, transport and food.

The least proportion of income is spent on health, communication and education.

“Alcoholic beverages and tobacco saw the largest weight increase, rising by 0.44 of a percentage point to 6.26%. The weight for miscellaneous goods and services experienced the biggest drop, decreasing by 0.24 of a percentage point to 14.81%,” Stats SA said.

The statistics body is expected to announce the consumer price index – the cost of living – for January on Wednesday, February 16.

“The CPI basket is the bedrock from which the consumer price index is calculated. Prices for all items in the basket are collected on a regular basis. Stats SA measures the changes in these prices to calculate the inflation rate, or the change in the cost of living,” Stats SA said.