23-40    Average Monthly Household Expenditure
by Commodity/Service Section by Quartile Expenditure Group
                     
       Quartile Expenditure Group
Commodity/Service Section Overall The Lowest 25% The Second 25% The Third 25% The Highest 25%
  Value (percent) Value (percent) Value (percent) Value (percent) Value (percent)
                     
  Food                      5612 25.7 2917 36.3 4650 31.5 5929 27.9 8953 20.8
  Housing                   7009 32.2 2275 28.3 4539 30.7 6413 30.1 14813 34.4
  Electricity, Gas and Water              631 2.9 402 5.0 559 3.8 659 3.1 906 2.1
  Alcoholic Drinks & Tobacco 226 1.0 150 1.9 211 1.4 213 1.0 331 0.8
  Clothing & Footwear       958 4.4 211 2.6 538 3.6 933 4.4 2150 5.0
  Durable Goods             988 4.5 226 2.8 553 3.7 1036 4.9 2136 5.0
  Miscellaneous Goods       1053 4.8 397 4.9 715 4.8 1029 4.8 2073 4.8
  Transport                 2009 9.2 598 7.4 1146 7.8 1869 8.8 4424 10.3
  Miscellaneous Services    3310 15.2 851 10.6 1866 12.6 3194 15.0 7329 17.0
  All Sections     (HKD) 21797 100.0 8026 100.0 14778 100.0 21275 100.0 43114 100.0
  Number of Households                                                                            
  (household) 1624000 100.0 406000 25.0 406000 25.0 406000 25.0 406000 25.0
                     
                     
Note: Results are obtained from the Household Expenditure Survey carried out from October 1999 to September 2000.