Resumo: The analysis of the household consumption expenditure is an indicator that can be used to study the performance of the Portuguese economy in an European context. The main objective of this study is to carry out a mapping of the evolution of household consumption expenditure of some countries of the European Union, in percentage of the total consumption expenditure between 1991 and 2001. That mapping is the result of a research in Double Principal Component Analysis. The results show a decreasing tendency of the weight of household consumption expenditure in food and beverage, clothing and footwear, in proportion of total household consumption expenditure. They also show an increase of the expenditure in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, communications, recreation and culture. In addition we found an opposition in terms of household consumption expenditure between the countries of the south and the ones of the north of Europe. A decrease in household consumption expenditure in food and beverage, clothing and footwear and an increase in household consumption expenditure in recreation and culture were observed in Portugal.
