Europeans have an average of 14,739 euros per person available for spending and saving in 2019, a market research study has revealed.
Disposable net income among the 42 countries that were studied, however, varies significantly: Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Luxembourg have the highest average purchasing power, while Moldova, Kosovo and Ukraine have the lowest.
The results from the recently released study “GfK Purchasing Power Europe 2019” showed that Europeans have just under 10 trillion euros at their disposal in 2019. GFK is Germany’s largest market research institute.
Per capita purchasing power grew by approximately 3.5 % in 2019, which significantly higher than last year’s value. This corresponds to an average per capita purchasing power of 14,739 euros.
Net disposable income is the amount of money that people have available for spending on food, living, services, energy, private pensions, insurance, vacation, mobility and consumer purchases after the deduction of taxes and charitable contributions.
‘Residents in Liechtenstein are the richest again with a per capita purchasing power of 67,550 euros.
Romania has a per capita purchasing power of 5,881 euros, about 60 % less than the European average and 14 % more than last year. Bucharest, however, has an average of 10,452 euros about 80% more money than the rest of the country.
Sixteen of the countries considered by the study have above-average per capita purchasing power, while 26 fall below the European average. Ukraine takes last place with a per capita purchasing power of 1,830 euros.
In Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic has the highest disposable income with Prague richer than the rest of the country. The per capita purchasing power of 9,959 euros, about one-third 32 % less than the European average. Prague lead the rankings with Prague residents having an average of 12,935 euros per person at their disposal, much higher than the national average.
In neighboring Hungary, purchasing power is about 7,416 euros, which is approximately half of the European average and just below Poland.
In Romania, apart from Bucharest, the highest disposable incomes are in the counties are Timis, Cluj and Ilfov.
The poorest area in Romania is the north-eastern county of Vaslui, which has an average per capita purchasing power of 3,706 euros, about 75 % below the European average, the study showed.
