For the second year in a row, purchasing power in Europe has increased last year, while inflation continues to fall. The differences between European member states are slowly – but steadily – narrowing.
Luxembourg richest
Last year, citizens of the European Unioin saw their purchasing power grow by an average of 5.5 %, to 19,786 euros per capita. A year earlier, the increase was 7 %. The residents of the 27 EU member states had a combined purchasing power of 8.9 trillion euros at their disposal, NielsenIQ and GfK calculated. Still, this increase in purchasing power did not fully compensate for the rise in the cost of living. In other words, it could not keep up with inflation.
The differences between member states remain significant: leading the way is Luxembourg with 40,931 euros per inhabitant, followed by Denmark with 32,490 euros. Bulgaria’s 8,629 euros is enough to leave last place, leaving that spot to its neighbours Romania at 7,738 euros per inhabitant. This means that people from Luxembourg have more than twice as much to spend as the EU average and even more than five times as much than Romanians.
