The cost of public and private transport is the biggest single item in the £406 weekly budget for 2002-3, according to the Office for National Statistics, accounting for a whopping £59 in the average UK weekly budget.

Its annual survey of expenditure puts recreation spending second, with food and housing in the next two slots.

The survey, carried out annually for nearly half a century, asks almost 7,000 households to track where their money goes on a daily basis. More than six in 10 of the households surveyed had just one or two people in them, and about a third included children.

The average for household spending each week ranges from £136 for the lowest income groups to £883 for the highest.

The breakdown in spending varies widely between poor and rich. The least well-off tenth of the population spent 16% of their budget on food and non-alcoholic drinks, compared to 8% for the most wealthy. Tobacco spending, on the other hand, peaks in the middle of the income spread.

Age also plays a part, with newspapers most important to the oldest participants and least important for the under-30s. And unsurprisingly geography dictates total spending, the survey showed. London's average weekly household budget was £487 a week, with Wales footing the list at £335. Urban areas outside London, however, showed low spending averaging £336 with a smaller proportion going on transport. Rural areas, in contrast, spent £458 on average.

The organisation has stocked a house in Surrey with items priced to show what burden they place on the average household.

The full figures were as follows:

Transport £59.20
Recreation & culture £56.40
Food £42.70
Housing & energy £36.90
Restaurants & hotels £35.40
Miscellaneous goods & services £33.10
Household goods £30.20
Clothes & shoes £22.30
Alcohol & tobacco £11.40
Communication £10.60
Education £5.20
Health £4.80
Other £57.90
Total £406.20