GfK: Romania, 51% below the European Purchasing Power Average in 2022
Romania had a spending potential of €8,017 per capita in 2022. This is 51% below the European average and puts the Romanians in 31st place. Compared to the previous year, the gap between counties with high and low purchasing power has widened even further.
In the top 10 ranking, Bucharest is clearly leading the field with a per capita purchasing power of €15,482. This means that the inhabitants of the capital have more than 93% more purchasing power than the national average and 3.6 times more than the inhabitants of Vaslui County, which has the lowest purchasing power in terms of spending and saving. Here, disposable net income is just €4,728, which is around 53%of the national average.
All counties in the top 10 have an above-average per capita purchasing power. With a spending potential of €8,191 per inhabitant, tenth-placed Prahova County comes closest to the national average but is still 2.2% above it. All other 32 counties, which constitute more than three quarters of all counties, are below the national average.
Most of the counties in the top 10 are the same as the previous year, albeit with some changes in ranking. In 2022, Cluj overtook Timis to move into second place with a per capita purchasing power of €11,643, while Arges and Arad counties swapped places in seven and eight.
The average per capita purchasing power in Europe in 2022 was €16,344. However, there are tremendous differences among the 42 countries: Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Luxembourg have a significantly higher spending potential than the rest of Europe, while the purchasing power is the lowest in Kosovo, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. Thus, Liechtensteiners have more than 43 times the amount available for spending and saving than Ukrainians. These are some of the results of the newly released study “GfK Purchasing Power Europe 2022.”
In 2022, Europeans had around 11.1 trillion euros available to spend on food, housing, services, energy costs, private pensions, insurance, vacations, mobility, and consumer purchases. This corresponds to an average per capita purchasing power of €16,344, which represents a nominal growth of 5.8% compared to the previous year. However, the amount consumers actually have available for spending and saving varies greatly from country to country, and also depends on how consumer prices developed in 2022.
About the study
The study “GfK Purchasing Power Europe 2022” is available for 42 European countries at detailed regional levels such as municipalities and postcodes, along with seamlessly fitting data on inhabitants and households as well as digital maps.
Purchasing power is a measure of disposable income after the deduction of taxes and charitable contributions, and it also includes any received state benefits. The study indicates per-person, per-year purchasing power levels in euros and as an index. GfK Purchasing Power is based on the population's nominal disposable income, which means values are not adjusted for inflation. Calculations are carried out on the basis of reported income and earnings, statistics on government benefits, as well as economic forecasts provided by economic institutes.
Consumers draw from their general purchasing power to cover expenses related to eating, living, services, energy, private pensions and insurance plans, as well as other expenditures, such as vacations, mobility and consumer purchases.
Photo source: PxHere.
