Purchasing power is 50% above average

IRISH people have an average of 50% more purchasing power than the average EU citizen, according to figures released for last year.

This makes us the second-richest country in the EU, with Luxembourg on top with more than two-and-a-half times the average.

The poorest of the 27 member states is Bulgaria, which joined the union earlier this year. It and Romania’s GDP, expressed in terms of purchasing power standards, is 60% below the EU average.

The figures for Ireland, at 146 units or 46 above the EU average of 100, are an artificial reference currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries. So one unit buys the same volume of goods and services in all countries, allowing a meaningful comparison of economic indicators across countries.

The second group of countries, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium were between 20% to 30% higher than the average.

In the next group of countries with GDP from 10% to 20% above average are Britain, Germany and France while Spain, Italy and Greece were about average.

Of the old member states, only Portugal remains below average at 75% and has been surpassed by new member states, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Malta.

Estonia, Hungary and Slovakia are in the next group at 35% below average, while Latvia and Lithuania are in the mid-50s and Poland, the largest of the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004, is at 53%.