The American organization for collecting data on global population and demography "World Population Review" created a ranking list of European countries according to the cost of living, from the most expensive to the cheapest. The calculation was made by comparing the prices of goods and services in New York, and five criteria were taken into account - cost of living in general, rental or housing prices, grocery prices, restaurant prices and the producer price index.
Serbia ranked 41th in the list of 34 countries. According to these criteria, the cheapest place to live in Europe is Belarus. A little above it are two warring states - Ukraine and Russia, followed by Macedonia and Moldova. In 36th place is the poorest member of the European Union - Bulgaria. Directly above it, there is another country in the Serbian neighborhood, namely Romania, it says N1.
On the other hand, the most expensive countries to live in are Switzerland and Iceland. They are followed by two British tax havens - the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, and Ireland is in fifth place. Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark, the Netherlands and Great Britain are among the ten most expensive. Austria is in 11th place and Germany in 12th place.
Slovenia is the most expensive in the region
Of the countries in the region, Slovenia is the most expensive to live in and ranks 25th. Along with Slovenia, the most expensive life in the countries of the region is in Croatia, which is in 29th place. They are followed by Montenegro at 31, Hungary at 32, while Bosnia and Herzegovina was not included in this research.
Poland is in 30th place, and more expensive than it are Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Greece, Estonia, Czech Republic, Portugal and Spain, which are ranked in that order up to 20th place.
Of course, the picture is not complete if average salaries are not taken into account.
Average salary in European countries
According to data from the end of last year, the highest salary in Europe is earned on average by residents of Liechtenstein. Working in this small country between Switzerland and Austria, which has less than 40.000 people, is worth 7.046 euros per month.
Liechtenstein has a strong financial sector that is most responsible for its high standard. First of all, it is about the low corporate income tax rates, which are roughly twice as low as the European average, which is why thousands of companies have their headquarters in Liechtenstein, often in the form of an ordinary mailbox. However, Liechtenstein is not on the list of countries designated as tax havens. Another source of income for this alpine country is tourism, primarily in winter.
Behind Liechtenstein is another Alpine country - Switzerland with an average salary of 5.522 euros. Like Liechtenstein, Switzerland has lower tax rates and developed winter tourism, but Switzerland also has the strongest banking sector in the world and a degree of privacy for clients that no other country has.
Denmark in third place
In third place is Denmark with 4.149 euros, then Luxembourg with 3.699, Norway 3.386, then Iceland 3.377 euros and San Marino 3.237, while Ireland is the last country on the list with an average salary of more than 3.000 euros and is 3.086.
Among the other countries in the region, Romania leads with 924 euros, followed by Bulgaria with 822 and Albania with 507 euros. Interesting information if we consider that both Romania and Bulgaria are cheaper to live in than Serbia.
At the bottom of Europe are countries where wars are mostly fought or the security-political situation is unstable, so in Ukraine it is 306 euros. In Belarus it is 483, while the average salary in Russia is 588 euros.
In the largest country and the strongest economy of the European Union, Germany, the average salary is 2.831 euros.
In the countries that emerged from Yugoslavia, the highest salary is 1.442 euros in Slovenia. Followed by Croatia with 1.163, Montenegro (800), Serbia (714), Bosnia and Herzegovina (652) and North Macedonia (557). On the territory of Kosovo*, average wages are the lowest and amount to 446 euros.
Serbia: Average 803, median 623 euros
The average gross salary calculated for February of this year was 129.934 dinars, while the average net salary was 94.125 dinars (803 euros), announced the Republic Statistical Office (RZS).
Median net earnings amounted to 72.956 dinars (623 euros), which means that 50 percent of employees earned less than that amount.
The average net salary in February was higher by 15,8 percent in nominal terms than in the same month last year, while the real growth was 9,6 percent.
If we look at the first two months of this year, real wage growth on an annual basis was 9,2 percent.
Wages in the public sector increased nominally by 15,8 percent year-on-year in the first month, but in February compared to January they were 2,5 percent lower.
Net salaries in public state enterprises in January and February were higher by 17,1 percent than in the same period last year, while salaries in public utility companies increased by 17,6 percent.
Salaries in the administration were increased by an average of 14,2 percent, but while local and national salaries were increased, at the level of AP Vojvodina they were reduced by 3,4 percent compared to last year.
In healthcare and social services, salaries increased by 14,3 percent, and in education and culture by 17,9 percent.
Announced price increases from May 1
In Serbia it will starting tomorrow, the new amounts of excise duty on fuel, coffee, cigarettes and alcohol will come into force, aligned with last year's inflation of 7,6 percent. However, it is not yet known how much these products will increase in price.
"One possibility is that the excise tax increase rate is shown as a percentage of the value, the second is that it is a specific tax, which means that it is charged per unit of goods consumed, and the third possibility is that there is a combination of the two. In Serbia, there are all three forms", says za RTS Snezana Ugrinov from the Fiscal Council.
The new excise tax with VAT on fuel will be higher from 4,5 to 5,7 dinars, but that does not mean that fuel will also become more expensive. The drivers would be most happy if the situation from October last year, when the excise tax was harmonized for the last time, was repeated.
"The price of diesel was 214 dinars and has not changed. The price of gasoline even fell, and the excise duty was increased. Because other parameters contributed to it," Tomislav Mićović from the Association of Oil Companies of Serbia told the public service.
While all scenarios are possible with fuel, it is very likely that we will drink more expensive coffee and not only because of the increased excise duty.
"This increase in excise duty will certainly result in a further increase in coffee prices in the coming period, bearing in mind that producers, i.e. coffee sellers, currently have very small margins and it is not realistic to expect that they will reduce their earnings," says Dr. Duško Bodroža from the Institute of Economic science.
Apart from fuel and coffee, the prices of cigarettes and alcohol will also increase. The new cigarette prices will be valid from May 7, and will be more expensive by about 10 dinars per pack. Depending on the volume and strength of alcohol, brandy will increase in price by around 20 to 30 dinars.
