Purchasing power packs little punch in Greece
After seven years of financial crisis, domestic devaluation and tax hikes, Greece ranks 22nd among 42 European countries in terms of residents’ purchasing power, according to a continent-wide survey by GfK market researchers.
The average per capita income in Greece amounts to 9,433 euros per year, which is just over two-thirds (67.7 percent) of the European average (13,397 euros/year).
The purchasing power (disposable income after the deduction of taxes and social security contributions) of Greeks is the lowest among the countries in the European South that have had to deal with bailout programs this decade. The average income in Spain is 14,080 euros, in Portugal 11,152 euros and in Cyprus 11,112 euros.
The highest average disposable income in Greece was recorded in the Region of Southern Aegean, whose islands are very popular with tourists, amounting to 12,496 euros, while Western Greece was found to have the lowest, at just 7,710 euros.
