Cost of Living in Europe: Which Countries Are the Cheapest and Most Expensive?

Price level indices, based on Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs), reveal how expensive or cheap goods and services are across countries.They compare national price levels to the EU average, acting like an artificial common currency to show how much can be bought with the same amount of money in different countries.

According to Eurostat, these results are based on price surveys covering over 2,000 consumer goods and services across 36 European countries.

How Are Prices Compared Between Countries?

Categories include:

• Food & drink

• Clothing

• Hotels & restaurants

• Healthcare & education services

• Total household spending on individual goods and services

  
  

📌 Cheapest and Most Expensive Countries

• Most Expensive in the EU:🇱🇺 Luxembourg – Prices are 51% above the EU average.Followed by:🇩🇰 Denmark – 43% above🇮🇪 Ireland – 41% above

• Cheapest in the EU:🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 🇷🇴 Romania – Prices are just 57% of the EU average→ Meaning Luxembourg is 2.7 times more expensive than these two countries.

• Among the EU’s four largest economies:

  • 🇩🇪 Germany – 9% above the average

  • 🇫🇷 France – 8% above

  • 🇮🇹 Italy – 2% below

  • 🇪🇸 Spain – 9% below

    
    

📌 Geographic Price Patterns

• Western & Northern Europe: Higher price levelsCountries with strong currencies and higher incomes — like 🇨🇭Switzerland, 🇮🇸Iceland, 🇱🇺Luxembourg, 🇩🇰Denmark, 🇮🇪Ireland, 🇳🇴Norway, and 🇫🇮Finland — are significantly above average.

• Scandinavian Countries (🇩🇰🇫🇮🇸🇪🇳🇴🇮🇸): Consistently rank among the most expensive.

• Central & Eastern Europe: Lower price levelsCountries like 🇷🇴Romania, 🇧🇬Bulgaria, 🇭🇺Hungary, 🇵🇱Poland, and the Baltic States (🇱🇻Latvia, 🇱🇹Lithuania, 🇪🇪Estonia) all fall below the EU average due to lower labor costs.

• EU Candidate Countries: Even lower price levels, including 🇹🇷Turkey, 🇲🇰North Macedonia, 🇦🇱Albania, 🇷🇸Serbia, and 🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina.

  
  

Source: Euronews

Photo: AP