Spain Cheapest EU Country to Eat, Drink and Smoke

Published by Kyero on 23 June 2014

Eating, drinking and smoking in Spain is cheaper than the European average, as well as buying clothes, according to a report published last week by the European Commission statistical office, Eurostat. Overall, the organisation estimates that the typical shopping basket and some of the most common services are cheaper in Spain than in its neighbouring countries.

Specifically, in Spain, for these products, families spent 95% of what they cost on average in the EU. Above the EU average, the most expensive member country is Denmark (140%) and, within the eurozone, it is Luxembourg (123%). In contrast, the cheapest country of the EU is Bulgaria (48%) and of the eurozone, Slovakia (71%).

Beyond the average cost of the shopping basket, for this report Eurostat analysed data for more than 2,400 products obtained from national statistics on inflation crossed with purchasing power, and broke the results down into categories of goods such as: food and non-alcoholic drinks; tobacco and alcohol; clothes; electronics; personal transport, and restaurants and hotels. Their figures represent the total spent by consumers with taxes included.

In this respect, Spain stood just above the EU average for personal transportation – comprising cars, bicycles or motorcycles – without taking into account maintenance costs and fuel, although barely by one percentage point.

The report showed that electronic products in Spain cost 99% of the European average and that the shopping basket stood at 93%. It is noteworthy that, despite being regarded as the garden of Europe, Spain is not among the cheapest countries in the EU or the eurozone.

However, when it comes to clothing, Spain is in the group of the cheapest countries in the EU. Specifically, with 87%, it ranks as the third member country where clothes are less expensive, on par with Portugal. Spain also has the same percentage with regard to the cost of alcoholic drinks and tobacco.