Features of Consumer Behavior of Older People in Russia: Reduction of Expenses and Simplification of Consumption Structure

Abstract

With the aging population, older people are becoming an increasingly visible category of consumers, which makes research into their consumer behavior relevant. How do the level and structure of consumption change with the transition to older ages in Russia? How diverse is the consumption of older Russians? These are the main questions addressed by this study, which bases on data from the first wave of the population survey Economic Behaviour of Households (HHEB HSE).

The authors use descriptive statistics together with factor, cluster, and regression analysis. The data shows that at older ages (60 years and older), the level of expenses decreases, their structure becomes simpler, and the basic categories of expenditures — for food at home, housing and utilities, and medicines — begin to prevail in it. At the age of 70 years and older, basic consumption accounts for an average of 81% of expenses. Regression analysis shows that employment and savings are associated with higher average per capita expenditures.

The group of consumers aged 60 and over living without children is heterogeneous. Thus, cluster analysis showed that only 25% of them have a high share of expenses on food (cluster centre — 70%), which leaves almost no room for other expenses. At the same time, 29% spend about a quarter of their total expenses on food. Multinomial logistic regression estimates indicate the significance of differences between clusters by age, type of settlement, availability of savings, loans, and expenses for individual expense items. Moreover, the results suggest that the nature of consumption in old age is determined not only by the amount of income, but also, perhaps to a greater extent, by the age and activity of the person.

Acknowledgments. This article is an output of a research project implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the HSE University.