Bulgarians rank as fifth-highest spenders in EU on transport – Eurostat
Bulgarians spent the fifth-highest amount in the European Union on transport, as a fraction of total household expenditure – 13.9 per cent in 2017, compared to the European Union average of 13 per cent, data from EU statistics body Eurostat showed.
That was despite spending the least amount on purchasing cars and other vehicles in the EU – 1.9 per cent, just over half the EU average of 3.7 per cent.
Eurostat data earlier this year showed that one in five Bulgarians could not afford a car (the second-highest rate among European Union countries after Romania) and was in the bottom third in the EU in passenger car ownership (eighth-lowest).
Instead, Bulgarians paid higher than the EU average for maintenance and repairs, including spare parts and accessories, and fuels – at 7.7 per cent of total household expenditure, compared to the EU average of 6.5 per cent.
Also compensating for the low car ownership rate, Bulgarians spent the second-highest on passenger transport services at 4.3 per cent of total household expenditure (behind only Greece), against an EU average of 2.8 per cent.
Eurostat data also showed that the country had one of the highest declines in spending on transport in household expenditure, down 3.1 percentage points in the decade between 2007 and 2017, which was the fourth-highest drop in the EU over that period of time.
At current prices, Bulgarians spent 4.6 billion euro on transport in 2017, or about 700 euro per capita. The EU as a whole spent 1.09 trillion euro on transport in 2017, Eurostat said.
(Photo: Graham Briggs/sxc.hu)
