Bucharest, June 27, 2024 – RBJ – According to an analysis by Eurostat, published recently, Romania made an important leap in terms of real consumption per capita compared to the country’s GDP. In this way, Romania is approaching the level of some developed states in the European Union. It should be noted that, from this point of view, our country, with an AIC of 89%, surpasses Spain and Portugal (88%), as well as all the states of Eastern Europe, including Poland with an AIC of 86%.
Eurostat shows that in 2023, actual individual consumption (AIC) per capita expressed in purchasing power standards (PPS) varied from 70% to 138% of the EU average across the 27 EU countries. AIC includes all goods and services that households use, regardless of whether they were purchased and paid for by households directly, by government, or by non-profit organizations. It can be considered as an indicator of the material welfare of households.
Actual individual consumption, abbreviated as AIC, refers to all goods and services actually consumed by households. It encompasses consumer goods and services purchased directly by households, as well as services provided by non-profit institutions and the government for individual consumption (e.g., health and education services). In international comparisons, the term is usually preferred over the narrower concept of household consumption, because the latter is influenced by the extent to which non-profit institutions and general government act as service providers.
Although GDP per capita is an important and widely used indicator of countries’ level of economic welfare, consumption per capita may be more useful for comparing the relative welfare of consumers across various countries.
AIC per capita is usually highly correlated with GDP per capita, because AIC is, in practice, by far the biggest expenditure component of GDP.
In 2023, 10 EU countries recorded AIC per capita above the EU average. The highest levels were recorded in Luxembourg (38% above the EU average), Austria and the Netherlands (both 17%).
Meanwhile, 17 EU countries recorded AIC per capita below the EU average, with the lowest levels recorded in Hungary (30% below the EU average), Bulgaria (27%), Slovakia and Latvia (both 25%).
Romania’s GDP reached 1,600 billion lei in 2023, the highest level in history. Romania reached the twelfth economic power in Europe, after Denmark and before the Czech Republic, Finland or Portugal.
Romania’s Gross Domestic Product reached 1,600 billion lei in 2023, according to the latest statistical data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). It is the highest level in history, and the GDP has increased 2.5 times in the last 10 years alone, from 640 billion lei in 2013, to over 1,600 billion lei in 2023.
Romania’s economy has grown steadily in recent years, except for 2020, when the lockdown sent the whole world into recession, along with the imposition of restrictions and the disruption of supply chains from Asia.
According to the National Bank of Romania, economic growth is expected to accelerate progressively in 2024 and 2025 (over 3% annually, and somewhat more pronounced than anticipated, in the conditions of the tempering of inflation and the gradual recovery of external demand, but especially against the background of the conduct of the policy fiscal and the use of European funds related to the Next Generation EU instrument.
Eurostat notes, at EU level, that Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, a measure of economic activity, also showed substantial differences across the EU members.
GDP per capita above the EU average was recorded in 11 EU countries. It was highest in Luxembourg (139% higher than the EU average), Ireland (111%) and the Netherlands (30%). At the other end of the range, the lowest GDP per capita was recorded in Bulgaria (36% below the EU average), Greece (33%) and Latvia (29%).
