Household consumption, illustrative stock photo (source: SME)
This stems from the first estimate published by EU’s statistics office, Eurostat, on June 15, and cited by the Hospodárske Noviny daily. Actual individual consumption is a measure of material well-being of households and represents actually consumed goods and services, regardless of whether they were paid for by households, government, or non-profit organisations.
Slovakia, together with the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia were in the group with actual individual consumption between 20 and 30 percent below the EU average. Last year, individual consumption in Slovakia amounted to 77 percent of the EU average.
Big differences are also in the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita – which is also an index of economic activity. In 2015, Bulgaria had the lowest GDP per inhabitant as expressed in standards of purchasing power (46 percent); with Luxembourg, at the other end of chart, having the highest (271 percent).
