The Average Purchasing Power of Europeans in 2022 Is €16,344

The average per capita purchasing power in Europe in 2022 is €16,344. However, there are tremendous differences among the 42 countries. Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Luxembourg have significantly higher spending potential than the rest of Europe, while the purchasing power is the lowest in Kosovo, Moldova, and Ukraine. Thus, Liechtensteiners have more than 43 times the amount available for spending and saving than Ukrainians.

In 2022, Europeans have around €11.1 trillion available to spend on food, housing, services, energy costs, private pensions, insurance, vacations, mobility, and consumer purchases. This corresponds to an average per capita purchasing power of €16,344, which represents a nominal growth of 5.8 percent compared to the previous year. However, the amount consumers actually have available for spending and saving varies greatly from country to country, and also depends on how consumer prices develop in 2022.

As in previous years, Liechtenstein tops the purchasing power ranking by some distance. Located between Austria and Switzerland, the principality has a per capita purchasing power of €66,204, which means that Liechtensteiners have almost 4.1 times the purchasing power of the average European. Switzerland and Luxembourg follow in second and third place: while the per capita purchasing power of the Swiss is €41,758 - almost 2.6 times the European average - Luxembourgers have a spending potential of €37,015 per capita. This is almost 2.3 times more than the European average.

All other countries in the top 10 also have a very high per capita purchasing power - at least 47 percent more than the European average. Ireland enters the top 10 this year with a per capita purchasing power of €24,052, while Sweden slips down two places to eleventh. In addition, Norway and Iceland swapped fourth and fifth place this year. The United Kingdom moves up three places to seventh, while Austria falls two places to ninth.

Overall, 16 of the 42 countries surveyed are above the European average. This is in contrast to 26 countries whose per capita purchasing power is below average - including Spain, which at €15,314 per capita is closest to the European average. Ukraine is still at the bottom of the ranking; due to the ongoing war, Ukrainians only have €1,540 per capita at their disposal, which amounts to a bit more than 9 percent of the European average.