Euronews Business looks at how real household incomes per person changed after COVID-19 and over the past decade.
EU real household incomes per capita have risen by about 7% since the pre-pandemic period, but changes between 2019 and 2024 vary widely across countries.
Nordic countries generally recorded smaller gains, while many Eastern and Central European countries saw stronger growth. Trends over the past decade also differ across Europe.
So how have household real incomes per capita changed across Europe over the last 10 years, from 2014 to 2024? How does this compare with the pre-pandemic period? And which countries have the highest household income per person in purchasing power standards (PPS), according to Eurostat?
They increased by 17% between 2014 and 2024. Growth largely stalled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as in many countries, with some even recording declines.
It then resumed gradually, resulting in a 7% increase from pre-pandemic levels between 2019 and 2024.
What is household income?
Household income per person is calculated by dividing a household's adjusted gross disposable income by the total population. So what is that exactly?
It shows how much money households have available to spend or save. It is measured after income taxes and pension contributions are deducted.
Crucially, it also includes the value of services such as education and healthcare that households receive free of charge from governments and non-profit organisations.
‘Real’ means the nominal value is adjusted for price increases, using the deflator of actual household final consumption expenditure.
Lowest growth in Nordic countries since the pandemic
Croatia recorded the strongest growth in real household incomes per person over these five years at 26%. Malta recorded 24%, Hungary 20%, Romania 19% and Poland recorded a 16% rise, ranking them among some of the highest increases, all above 15%.
Apart from Malta, these countries are outside the euro area, and the growth also reflects changes in national currencies. This is not the case for Sweden and Denmark.
The three Nordic countries are at the bottom of the ranking. Sweden at 1%, Finland at 2% and Denmark at 3% recorded only modest growth. According to the OECD, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis, unemployment rates rose more in Nordic countries than in many other European countries.
The EU’s ‘Big Four’ economies also remain below the EU average. France and Spain (both 6%) are just under the EU average, while Italy and Germany (both 4%) are closer to Nordic levels.
Ten years change in household income
Overall, non-euro countries recorded stronger growth between 2014 and 2024, with Romania reaching 76%. Among the seven countries with the highest growth, Malta is the only euro area member at 55%.
Turkey (68%), Hungary (55%), Croatia (51%), Bulgaria (45%) and Poland (42%) also recorded strong increases.
Croatia and Bulgaria joined the euro area later.
Eurostat noted that real GDP growth in the eurozone has been weaker than in the EU over the past two decades.
Sweden recorded the lowest growth over the past 10 years. The other two Nordic countries also remain below the EU average of 17%, with Finland at 10% and Denmark at 14%.
Spain is just two points above the EU average, while the other three major economies are below this level.
Where are household incomes the highest in PPS terms?
While growth rates matter, they do not show actual household income levels across countries. Adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita in PPS is used for this comparison.
As of 2024, the latest available data, Luxembourg has the highest household income per person at 41,552 PPS among 32 European countries. Germany (37,098), Austria (34,443), the Netherlands (34,406) and Switzerland (33,971) complete the top five.
Household income per person is also above 30,000 PPS in Belgium, France, Iceland and Norway.
Bulgaria has the lowest household income per person at 7,802 PPS based on 2022 data. Eastern European and Balkan countries, including EU candidates, also report lower household incomes in PPS terms.
Serbia stands at 13,311 PPS, while several others mostly range between 20,000 and 25,000 PPS, including Greece, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary.
The top three positions in the PPS rankings remained unchanged in 2014, 2019 and 2024. By contrast, Greece and Sweden lost ground over this period among 30 countries. Sweden ranked 6th in 2014, 8th in 2019 and 10th in 2024. Greece fell from 23rd to 28th over the decade.
In contrast, the Netherlands climbed from 7th to 4th. Hungary moved up from 26th to 22nd, while Romania rose from 29th to 24th.
In theory, one PPS buys the same amount of goods and services in every country.
