Eurostat: Bulgaria, Romania had EU’s lowest consumer price levels in 2021
Bulgaria and Romania had the lowest price levels for consumer goods and services in the European Union in 2021, at 56 per cent of the average, the bloc’s statistics agency Eurostat said on June 21.
In 2021, price levels for consumer goods and services differed widely across the EU, Eurostat said.
Denmark and Ireland (both 140 per cent of the EU average) had the highest price levels.
These EU countries were followed by Luxembourg (132 per cent), Sweden (128 per cent) and Finland (126 per cent).
The lowest price levels were found in Poland (60 per cent) and in Romania and Bulgaria (both 56 per cent).
Eurostat said that in 2021, the price level for restaurants and hotels was almost 3.4 times higher in the most expensive country than in the cheapest one.
Price levels ranged from 46 per cent of the EU average in Bulgaria, 54 per cent in Romania and 62 per cent in Hungary, to 155 per cent of the average in Denmark, 137 per cent in Sweden and 133 per cent in Finland.
Alcohol and tobacco ranked second in terms of price level difference, with the lowest price levels registered in Bulgaria (64 per cent of the EU average), Poland (72 per cent) and Hungary (79 per cent) and the highest in Ireland (205 per cent), Finland (173 per cent), Sweden (136 per cent) and Denmark and France (both 134 per cent).
This large price variation is mainly due to differences in taxation of these products, Eurostat said.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages were cheapest in Romania (69 per cent of the EU average) and Poland (72 per cent), while they were most expensive in Luxembourg (125 per cent of the average), Denmark (120 per cent) and Ireland (119 per cent).
Clothing is a group of products where prices differed less among EU countries, ranging from 76 per cent of the average in Bulgaria to 134 per cent in Denmark.
Personal transport equipment also recorded a smaller price disparity among EU member states, with Poland (81 per cent of the EU average) cheapest and Denmark (138 per cent) most expensive.
Price differences were also limited for consumer electronics, from 88 per cent of the average in Poland to 113 per cent in the Netherlands, Eurostat said.
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
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