Purchasing Power in European capitals

According to the latest numbers from Eurostat the European Union now has a population of 500 million people. The purchasing power of these half a billion people however is varying greatly.

The east-west divide has become smaller but will remain for decades. Even within the countries the differences regarding purchasing power are enormous. This is not only the case in eastern European countries with sometimes extreme regional disparities of purchasing power but also in some western European countries.

The table below shows that strong regional variations are also common in western Europe. For example Spain with nearly 90 index points difference between the municipality with the highest purchasing power and the one with the lowest numbers. Vienna has a very good ranking within Europe. The first district in Vienna with it’s extremely high purchasing power is the reason for the high regional disparity.

Also a great difference exists in the position of the capital in the national purchasing power ranking. Berlin has an index of 90,8 and therefore has an approx. 10% lower purchasing power than the German average. This is a uniqe situation in Europe. Amsterdam is clearly above average in the Netherlands but only on 28th position within the national ranking of municipalities. Here, like in Austria, the so-called affluent suburbs exist – those who can afford it, move to the countryside. The situation in Austria is completely different, where Vienna has the lead or in Sweden where only two municipalities have a higher purchasing power than Stockholm.

Purchasing power numbers for all European countries on various regional levels are part of the RegioData Research Purchasing Power Data Edition 2009.