How much was created in Europe – the countries of the European Union, those that are not members and those that aspire to it and are not yet in that alliance – during 2019, and how much the citizens spent, ie what they could do with the money they had at their disposal, show data published by Eurostat – official European statistics.
Namely, these are data that show the actual individual consumption – AIC, whose values for the whole of last year were published and which represent a measure of material well-being of households. Based on them, it is clear that in many countries there is a possibility for households to spend their earnings above the EU average, and that some are far below it.
So, it is about how much money a household spends on certain, everyday, or usual living needs, and of all European countries, Luxembourg is the best placed, in which the European average is exceeded by as much as 35 percent. At the back is Albania, which, according to Eurostat data, is at the level of 39% of the European average.
When it comes to Serbia, real individual consumption last year reached a percentage of 49 percent of the European average. That indicator is 42 percent in Northern Macedonia, and 41 percent in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Montenegro, data showing household consumption in relation to the European average exceeds 50 percent, or 60 percent.
PPS – purchasing power standard
The measure of material well-being of households, expressed per capita, is expressed through the so-called PPS – purchasing power standard. It is an artificial currency unit that eliminates differences in price levels between countries. Thus, according to Eurostat, one PPS buys the same volume of goods and services in all countries, which allows comparison between countries.
When it comes to EU countries only, above the European average based on that indicator, in addition to Luxembourg, there are nine other countries – Germany, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, France and Sweden. In the last place among the EU countries is Bulgaria, where that indicator is only 58% of the European average. The countries of the former Yugoslavia that are members of the EU, Croatia and Slovenia are in different places, but in both of them this indicator is below the average in Europe. Namely, 83 percent of the European average was reached in Slovenia, while Croatia is at 66 percent. Only a few percent better than Croatia are Hungary – 67 percent and Slovakia – 69 percent of the European average.
Actual individual household consumption in European countries that are not members of the EU is above the European average. Thus, Norway exceeded the European average by 31 percent, Switzerland by 21 percent, and Iceland by 16 percent. Household consumption in Great Britain, which should soon officially leave the EU, exceeded the European average by 13%, Dnevnik reports.
