Malta 21% below EU average in consumption per capita

The Maltese stand at 21% below the EU average in terms of consumption per capita in purchasing power standards, according to figures released by Eurostat last week.

The figures deal with Actual Individual Consumption. AIC is a measure of material welfare of households.

Across the Member States in 2017, AIC per capita expressed in Purchasing Power Standards varied from 54% of the

average in Bulgaria to 132% in

Union Luxembourg.

European

The data, published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, are based on revised purchasing power parities, and the latest GDP and population figures.

Malta and 17 other Member States below the EU average

AIC per capita for thirteen Member States lay between the EU average and 30% below.

In Italy, Ireland and Cyprus, the levels were less than 10% below the EU average, while Spain, Lithuania, Czechia and Portugal were between 10% and 20% below.

Malta, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, Slovakia and Estonia were between 20% and 30% below the average.

Five Member States recorded AIC per capita more than 30% below the EU average. Latvia, Romania, Croatia and Hungary were between 30% and 40% below, while Bulgaria had AIC per capita more than 40% below the EU average.

Ten Member States recorded AIC per capita above the EU average in 2017.

The highest level in the EU was recorded in Luxembourg, 32% above the EU average, ahead of Germany (22% above). They were followed by Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom, which recorded levels around 15% and 20% above the EU average, and Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and France with levels around 10% above the EU average.

Over the last three years, AIC per capita relative to the EU average remained relatively stable in a majority of Member States. However, clear increases have been regis- tered in Romania (68% of the EU average in 2017 compared with 58% in 2015), Lithuania (88% vs. 83%) and Czechia (82% vs. 78%).

In contrast, the most noticeable decreases were recorded in Luxembourg (132% in 2017 vs. 140% in 2015), Austria (117% vs. 121%), the Netherlands (111% vs. 115%) and Sweden (109% vs. 113%).

GDP per capita varied by one to five across the Member States

In 2017, GDP per capita expressed in PPS ranged between 49% of the EU average in Bulgaria and 253% in Luxembourg. In Malta the figure stood at 96% last year.