Hungary among the cheapest EU states

If we are looking at food prices, Hungary is one of the cheapest countries in Europe, according to Eurostat statistics. However, life is not so cheap once we take into consideration how much the average salaries are.

Surprisingly, there are substantial price differences between the various EU states. A basket of food costs almost twice as much in Denmark as it does in Romania, Privátbankár.hu reports.

Hungary was categorised into the “20% below the EU average” category in terms of its food prices. Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, The Chech Republic, Spain, Portuguese, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the United Kingdom are also in this category.

It is important to mention that while the price range is considered similar in these countries, Hungary has the lowest budget per household, while other states like the Chech Republic and Lithuania have much higher average wages.

Hungary’s average net wages are still very low: 712 euros per months!

The average monthly budget for a household in Hungary was around 4,993 Euros, while the amount was 8,282 Euros in the Chech Republic and 6,135 Euros in Lithuania.

Eurostat also listed all the food groups whose prices were included in the research.

The survey reveals that the food prices in Eastern-European countries have much lower rates than the Western European member states of the EU.

Baked goods were the cheapest in Romania (54% of the EU average), and the most expensive in Denmark (150% of the EU average). Meat prices were the highest in Austria (146% of the EU average), and the lowest in Romania and Poland (63% of the EU average). Poland has the cheapest dairy products (71% of the EU average), while Cyprus has the most expensive dairy products (135% of the EU average).

Alcohol is cheapest in Hungary (77%) and Romania (74%), and the most expensive in Sweden (152%), Ireland (177%) and Finland (182%). Interestingly, a pack of cigarettes costs four times as much in the United Kingdom (204%) as it does in Bulgaria (49%).

Source: www.privatbankar.hu