A study on the cost of Christmas vacations across a wide range of countries revealed a surprise, with "Lebanon" topping the ranking based on the total expense per family. The data from "World Remit" focused on three aspects of spending: "food costs," "decoration costs," and "Christmas gifts," which exceeded $2,000 in the country suffering from severe economic crises. Food made up a significant portion of costs in some countries, particularly Lebanon, the Philippines, and African nations, constituting over 45% of Christmas budgets for families, according to information obtained by "Al Arabiya.net." However, in most countries, the largest portion of the Christmas budget was allocated to gifts, with gifts being the highest expense among the three indicators in more than half of the countries surveyed. In fact, 60% of all countries found that they spent more of their budgets on gifts and food.
**Christmas Inflation and Rising Costs**
Global inflation is also impacting Christmas shopping this year. According to the WorldRemit 2022 Cost of Christmas Study, the report anticipated a rise of up to 156% in total Christmas expenses this year due to increasing inflation. Last year's study examined 14 countries, where the majority of average costs were allocated to food during the holidays. In 2022, the study noted an increase in Christmas item prices in some of these fourteen countries, with nine new countries added to the list. Among the 23 countries surveyed in 2022, developing economies like the Philippines, Uganda, and Nigeria were expected to spend over 100% of their total monthly income on Christmas, while in the United Kingdom, Christmas would cost 65% more than it did in 2021.
