Households left with just Rs.4,000 a month after spending, down from Rs.13,000 in 2019

Daily Mirror reports that the first official household income and expenditure survey since Sri Lanka’s economic crisis found about Rs.4,000 remained each month for the average household after costs, compared with more than Rs.13,000 in 2019. The outlet says expenditure has grown faster than income.

EconomyNext reports that the Department of Census and Statistics found average monthly household expenditure reached Rs.116,191 in early 2025, an 84.1% rise from Rs.63,130 in 2019. Median expenditure increased from Rs.47,544 to Rs.94,057. An official involved with the survey team told EconomyNext that higher prices explained most of the increase, while the growth in real spending was limited.

EconomyNext reports that, measured using 2016 prices, average monthly expenditure rose to Rs.63,734 in 2025 from Rs.55,430 in 2019. Real median expenditure rose from Rs.41,745 to Rs.51,593. By residential sector, EconomyNext reports average monthly spending of Rs.158,023 for urban households, Rs.108,918 for rural households and Rs.88,691 for estate households. A researcher commenting on the statistics told the outlet that spending differed substantially across these sectors, with urban households highest and estate households lowest.

EconomyNext reports that preliminary results came from information collected from 25,000 households in the opening three months of 2025. The average household contained 3.4 people. The Department said its survey tracks consumption in 35 groups, divided into 19 food and 16 non-food categories.

Written automatically by AI from the outlets’ own reports, and not reviewed by an editor. It can be wrong — the original report is the authority.