Eurostat reveals the difference: Albanians spend to survive, Europeans to enjoy

Eurostat has published up-to-date data on the EU countries' family expenses, which date back to 2016. The Monitor has compared this data to INSTAT's data on Albania, but for 2016.

For Albanian families it is evident that most of the expenses go to feed. The data shows that while Albanian families spend nearly half of their spending (45.2) on nonalcohol food and drink, while consumers in EU countries are only 12.2% of their budget to meet their daily dietary needs.

For EU countries, foods are the third category of expenditures, after “extensions for residence, water, gas, with 24.5% and transport of 12.9% of total.

With the other half of the budget, which will remain after consuming food, Albanian families have little choice, and although they are not spared for clothes, others collect the belt. Unlike Europeans, who spend nearly 9% of the budget for entertainment and culture, for Albanian families this burden is only 3%. Even for restaurants, Europeans spend 8.5% of the money, up from 3.6% for Albanians.

Although Albania is estimated to be one of the countries that has the largest number of bars in relation to the population, most consumers seem to drop for a coffee. Cultural activities, on the other hand, are poor. For entertainment and access to coffee and restaurants, Europeans save 17.1% of the budget, while Albanians only 7.4%

The opening of private universities and the increasing tariffs of state universities have increased Albanians' spending to 4.4% of the budget, while for Europeans it is 1.2%.

For health, expenditures are similar, 3.4% in Albania and 3.9% in EU countries.

The category where “competition is” are the expenses for clothing and shoes, with 4.8% of expenditures, up from 4.9%, which is the average European Union.

A third of the economy to feed

Other INSTAT data shows that Albania is the country that spends more on feeding than national economy produces for a year. According to data published on Eurostat billboards, Albania spent 32.4% on domestic production Bruto (PBB) in 2016 for food.

Next to Albania is Kosovo, with 29.4% of GDP, followed by Montenegro with 22..8%, Bosnia with 21.5%, Macedonia with 18.4%, Serbia with?16.5%.

Only for bread and cereal, Albania spends 5% of what the economy produces in a year, again the highest in Europe, up from 1.1%, which is the average of the EU and 3.7%, which is the second place behind us (Montenegro).

High expenses for food are also an indirect indicator of relative poverty in the country, as they show how low the real income of Albanians as a significant part of it goes towards meeting basic needs.

Eurostat data shows that the European Union's average food spending is only 6% of GDP (even nearly as much as Albanians spend on bread), where the lowest is in Luxembourg and Ireland, respectively, with 2.8 and 2.6% of GDP. /Monitor