Such is the conclusion from the latest batch of Eurostat data, released earlier this week, Poland’s bankier.pl website said.
Actual individual consumption
To measure and compare standard of living across the 27 EU member states, Eurostat has constructed its own indicator, called actual individual consumption (AIC), according to bankier.pl.
It encompasses consumer goods and services bought directly by households as well as services provided by non-profits and the government (e.g. health and education services), bankier.pl reported.
The AIC per capita is expressed in an artificial currency unit, the purchasing power standard (PPS), bankier.pl noted.
According to Eurostat, the AIC per capita is usually highly correlated with GDP per capita, but is more useful in comparing the material well being of consumers across various countries, bankier.pl said.
Both the AIC and GDP take into account price differences across borders, but not the differences in quality between apparently the same goods and services, according to the Polish website noted.
“However, it’s not clear what quantitative method could be better,” bankier.pl said.
Poland’s material welfare higher than Portugal’s in 2021
In 2021, Poland’s AIC per capita reached 84 percent of the EU average, up from 83 percent a year earlier, Eurostat reported, as cited by bankier.pl.
This means that the average Polish consumer is better off than the average Portuguese (83 percent) and Greek (76 percent), as well as slightly worse off than the average Spaniard (85 percent), according to Eurostat, bankier.pl reported.
Meanwhile, among CEE countries, Lithuania (96 percent) came closest to Western levels of material welfare, finishing just behind Italy (97 percent).
Since 2002, Lithuania and Romania (82 percent) have been catching up with “old Europe” in the most dynamic manner, bankier.pl said.
According to Eurostat, material well being was above the EU average in nine countries in 2021: Luxembourg (146 percent), Denmark (121 percent), Germany (120 percent), the Netherlands (117 percent), Belgium and Austria (115 percent), Sweden (113 percent), Finland (112 percent) and France (111 percent), bankier.pl reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: bankier.pl, ec.europa.eu