[LifeStyle] Last year, Romania had the lowest prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages

[Mindsphere.]

[EN]

 

In 2019, Romanians paid the lowest prices in the European Union for a basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages, respectively 66% of the average price in the EU, at the opposite pole being the Danes who paid 129% for the same basket of products from the EU average price, according to data released by Eurostat on Thursday.

In the case of Romania, the Eurostat data for 2019 are identical to those of 2018 when it comes to this basket of comparable food and non-alcoholic beverages.

And prices for alcoholic beverages and cigarettes range from 62% of the EU average in Bulgaria, 74% in Poland, 75% in Hungary and Romania, and up to 188% of the EU average in Ireland.

But when it comes to restaurant and hotel prices, they are three times more expensive in Denmark than in Bulgaria, the category with the largest price difference between Member States. According to Eurostat, in 2019, prices varied between 60% or less of the EU average in Bulgaria (45%) and Romania (54%) and up to 156% of the EU average in Denmark.

In contrast, the smallest price differences are in the case of household appliances, where prices vary between 91% of the EU average in Poland and 111% of the EU average in France. This is also the category of products in which prices in Romania are closest to the EU average, in 2019 being 97% of the EU average.

In total, the lowest prices in the EU are recorded in Bulgaria (53% of the EU average) and Romania (55% of the EU average), at the opposite pole being Denmark (141% of the EU average), Ireland (134%), Luxembourg (131%), Finland (127%) and Sweden (121%). In other words, prices for goods and services within the EU are three times higher in the most expensive Member State than in the cheapest Member State.