Filenews 30 June 2025 - by Theano Thiopoulou
Households in which European countries are larger consumers is the question that Eurostat is trying to answer through the survey it published last week. Per capita real consumption based on Purchasing Power Unit is widely used as an indicator of the material well-being of households. Purchasing power parity is a measure used to compare the economic productivity and living standards of different countries, by approximating prices and quantities for the same "basket of goods".
According to Eurostat data, Luxembourg saw the highest level of expenditure per inhabitant, even after adjusting for price level differences between EU countries (28,731 PPS per inhabitant). Apart from Luxembourg, the average consumer expenditure of households per inhabitant in PPS terms in 2024 was also relatively high in Ireland (23,534 PPS), Belgium (23,437 PPS), Germany (23,333 PPS), Austria (23,094 PPS), the Netherlands (22,805 PPS), Denmark (22,078 PPS), Italy (21,986 PPS) and Cyprus (21,879 PPS).
In contrast, the average consumption expenditure of households per inhabitant was 14,621 PPS in Hungary and 15,025 PPS in Bulgaria. In Greece, the average consumer expenditure per inhabitant in PPS terms is 18,752, in Estonia 16,209, in the Czech Republic 16,757, in Spain 10,899, in Slovenia 18,269, Slovakia 17,233, Finland 20,158, Portugal 19,328, France 20,462, Latvia 16,461, Lithuania 19,261, Malta 19,622.
As Eurostat reports, the analysis of real developments in average consumer expenditure per inhabitant in euro (based on a volume chain index) over the period 2019–24 shows that the fastest growth was recorded in Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania, where average annual increases were at least 3.8%. A total of 5 EU countries recorded a decrease in household consumption expenditure per inhabitant between these years, with the largest decrease in the Czech Republic (on average 1.3% per year).
