Survey reveals that Hungarian standard of living is at the bottom of the EU

Many experts believe it is possible to measure the standard of living of a country’s residents by looking at the level of actual individual consumption (AIC). Based on this, Hungary is at the bottom of the European Union.

There are several indicators and data on economic prosperity. The best known economic indicator is gross domestic product (GDP). Although GDP is an important measure, experts say it is not the way to show the prosperity of a country’s economy. According to the European Statistical Office, actual individual consumption (AIC) is the best measure.

This figure shows how many goods and services are actually consumed by a given household. The AIC includes consumer goods and services purchased directly by households, as well as weighted services provided by non-profit institutions and governments, such as health and education, writes penzcentrum.hu.

The AIC shows how good the quality of public services the government provides to residents is.

Eurostat has prepared its 2020 estimate for EU countries. Eurostat uses price per share (PPS) for this purpose, which is an artificially created common conversion base. This will eliminate the differences between countries’ currencies. As a result, the much-heard, higher salary and more expensive livelihoods lose their significance. In the 27 Member States of the EU, individual consumption ranges from 61 to 131 per cent in PPS. The EU average is 100 per cent.

Luxembourg reached the highest level. Here, people live 31 per cent better than the EU average. Germany and Denmark come after Luxembourg. There were a further 6 countries where AIC was above the EU average. In 13 EU Member States, individual consumption ranged from 75 to 100 per cent. Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Romania also fall into this category.

Hungary is at the bottom of welfare statistics.

Actual per capita consumption is 31 per cent lower than the EU average. Only in Croatia and Bulgaria is the welfare of households worse. The Hungarian data has improved somewhat in the last decade, but in comparison, we are still at the bottom of the EU ranking.

Source: penzcentrum.hu, bbj.hu