Purchasing power growing in Germany with the East gaining ground

The purchasing power of German consumers is growing slowly but constantly and will continue like this in the near future. However, this growth is stronger in regions at the periphery of cities than in the cities themselves. Another positive fact is that purchasing power in the new federal states has become almost identical to that of the old federal states in. Among the top five of those places with the strongest purchasing power are the southern administrative districts of Bavaria and Hesse as well as the city of Munich. These are the main findings of the latest GfK study on purchasing power in Germany.

According to the study, the total figure for German net income earned will amount to 1.488 billion Euros in 2007. This also includes unemployment benefits, child allowances, pensions and other benefits from the state. Thus, each German citizen has on average 18.055 Euros annually at his or her disposal.

With an annual average per capita purchasing power of 26.120 Euros the community of Starnberg in the south of Munich is the richest in Germany followed by the administrative districts of Hochtaunus and Main-Taunus in Hesse as well as the Munich region where the growth in purchasing power has been particularly strong recently.

As far as the new federal states are concerned, their purchasing power is without exception below that of the German average, but there is an upward trend and the new states have been gaining ground as compared to last year. The sole regions where purchasing power has slightly declined over the last year are Berlin and Potsdam. Particularly positive is the development of purchasing power in some regions of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where it has constantly increased due to political measures taken.

The study is based on wage and income statistics and several forecasts by economic institutes. GERMAN

Matomo