Across Europe, the average annual income threshold for a three-member household to be counted among the top 10% of the richest families is around €71,000, but this figure varies significantly between countries depending on purchasing power. When these factors are combined, Serbia ranks as the poorest country in Europe, according to an analysis published by the German daily Merkur, as reported by N1.
Using data from Eurostat and the OECD, along with calculations made through the accounting software buchhaltungsbutler.de, Merkur found that the highest entry threshold for the top 10% richest three-member families is in Luxembourg (€175,000), followed by Norway (€117,319).
Next on the list are Denmark (€105,363), Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany, where the richest 10% of three-member households earn at least €71,000 net per year.
At the bottom of the list is Turkey (€19,000), followed by Serbia (€20,518) and Romania (€25,117). However, because prices in Turkey are much lower, Merkur notes that an income of €19,000 there has a purchasing power equivalent to €46,000 in European terms.
With that adjustment, Turkey moves ahead of Serbia, where a three-member family earning €20,518 has a real purchasing power equivalent to only €30,000—making Serbia the lowest-ranked country in Europe in terms of combined income and purchasing power.
Even within Eastern Europe, Romania fares slightly better: although its income threshold is low, lower living costs allow Romanian families to afford more than their counterparts in Slovakia and Hungary, where the income threshold for the richest 10% is higher.
At the top of the scale, purchasing power also alters perceptions of wealth. While Luxembourg remains the richest country nominally, its high prices significantly reduce the real value of its €175,000 income threshold.
By contrast, in Germany, where the threshold stands at €71,000, the purchasing power-adjusted value equals €85,000, putting German families ahead of those in Denmark (€73,000) and the Netherlands (€82,000) in real terms.
“Wealth isn’t measured only by income, but by how long that income lasts and the standard of living it provides,” said Maxine Schneider, director of the Buchhaltungsbutler program, in an interview with BuzzFeed News Germany.
Schneider added that if such large economic disparities across Europe persist, the continent will struggle to achieve a shared understanding of prosperity in the long run.
