Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) is a measure of material welfare of households. Across the Member States in 2014, AIC per capita expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) varied from 51 percent of the European Union (EU) average in Bulgaria to 141 percent in Luxembourg, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, said.
In Lithuania, AIC per capita expressed in PPS stood at 81 percent in 2014. Meanwhile, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expressed in PPS stood at 75 percent in 2014.
Ten member states recorded AIC per capita above the EU average in 2014. The highest level in the EU was recorded in Luxembourg, 41 percent above the EU average. Germany and Austria were more than 20 percent above. They were followed by Denmark, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, France and Sweden which all recorded levels between 10 percent and 15 percent above the EU average.
AIC per capita for twelve member states lay between the EU average and 30 percent below. In Italy and Ireland, the levels were less than 10 percent below the EU average, while Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Lithuania were between 10 percent and 20 percent below. Malta, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland were between 20 percent and 30 percent below the average.
Six Member States recorded AIC per capita more than 30 percent below the EU average. Estonia, Latvia, Hungary and Croatia were between 30 percent and 40 percent below, while Romania had AIC per capita 43 percent below the EU average and Bulgaria was around 50 percent below.
Over the last three years, AIC per capita relative to the EU average remained relatively stable in a majority of member states. However, clear increases have been registered in the three Baltic countries – Lithuania (81 percent of the EU average in 2014 compared with 74 percent in 2012), Latvia (65 percent vs. 61 percent) and Estonia (68 percent vs. 65 percent) – as well as in the Czech Republic (76 percent vs. 72 percent) and Slovakia (77 percent vs. 73 percent), while the most noticeable decreases were recorded in Italy (98 percent in 2014 vs. 103 percent in 2012) and Cyprus (90 percent vs. 95 percent).
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of economic activity. In 2014, GDP per capita expressed in PPS ranged between 47 percent of the EU average in Bulgaria and 266 percent in Luxembourg.
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