Purchasing power in Europe climbed by around 4% this year. According to a GfK study, a total of approx. €9.13 tln is available to European consumers in 2015 for spending and saving. This corresponds to an average per-capita purchasing power of €13,636 for the 42 countries under review.
The purchasing power varies significantly by region and country. Eastern and southern European countries consumers’ disposable incomes have grown despite the economic crises but are still far behind the western and northern European countries. According to Eurostat’s statistical findings on comparative price levels of consumer goods and services, Switzerland and the northern European countries tend to consistently have the highest prices of consumer goods.
Consumers in Europe’s top 10 countries have at least 1.5 times the average European purchasing power, while Liechtenstein has 4.5 times the European average.
The GfK purchasing power is a measure of per-capita disposable income after the deduction of taxes and charitable contributions and including any received state benefits. The study draws on statistics on income and tax levels, government benefits and forecasts by economic institutes. It does not take into inflation.
Source: GfK
