According to the “GfK Purchasing Power Europe 2021” study, the average per capita purchasing power in Europe in 2021 is 15,055 euro, corresponding to a nominal growth of 1.9 percent in 2021. Disposable net income among the 42 countries surveyed varies significantly: Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Luxembourg have the highest disposable net income by a wide margin, while Kosovo, Moldova, and Ukraine have the lowest. Thus, Liechtensteiners have more than 34 times the amount available for spending and saving than Ukrainians.
«After purchasing power stagnated last year due to the Coronavirus pandemic – commented Filip Vojtech, expert in GfK´s Geomarketing solution area -, this year people can at least partially compensate for rising inflation through nominal gains in purchasing power. This means that in 2021 people in Europe will once again have more money available for consumer spending, services, vacations and much more. However, the purchasing power does not develop the same way in every European country. While the United Kingdom moves up two places in the purchasing power ranking, also due to a stronger pound, neighboring Ireland slips down three places. And there have been some changes within countries as well, such as in France, where the gap in purchasing power is widening.»
As in the previous year, Liechtenstein takes first place again with a per capita purchasing power of 64,629 euro. The Swiss have 40,739 euro per capita available for spending – a bit more than 2.7 times the European average – while Luxembourgers have a per capita purchasing power of 35,096 euro. Overall, 16 of the 42 countries surveyed are above the European average. This is in contrast to 26 countries whose per capita purchasing power is below average – including Spain, which at 14,709 euro per capita is slightly below the European average. Ukraine is at the tail end: In the country with the lowest purchasing power in the study, people have only 1,892 euro per capita and less than 13 percent of the European average at their disposal.
