Frankfurter Rundschau: Purchasing power shapes Europe’s wealth threshold, with Serbia near the bottom

A three-person household in the European Union needs average annual net income of €71,000 to be considered wealthy, but the figure varies sharply across countries. Purchasing power changes the picture further, according to an analysis by Frankfurter Rundschau using Eurostat data.

Luxembourg has the highest nominal threshold, at €175,000 in net annual income. Norway follows at €117,139 and Denmark at €105,365. At the other end of the scale, the threshold stands at €19,000 in Turkey, €20,518 in Serbia and €25,117 in Romania.

The income figures do not show how much households can actually buy. In Germany, a three-person household reaches the wealth threshold at €93,000 a year, placing the country seventh by nominal income. But German households classified as wealthy have more money available for living costs than nominally richer households in Denmark or the Netherlands, putting Germany fourth after the purchasing-power adjustment.

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Wealth is not measured only by income, but also by what can be achieved with it.

Turkey’s €19,000 threshold corresponds to purchasing power of about €46,000 because of its lower prices. Serbia remains near the bottom after the adjustment: its €20,518 threshold corresponds to purchasing power of €30,000. Slovakia and Hungary follow, at €31,000 and €33,000 respectively.

Maxine Schneider, a wealth-management adviser, told Frankfurter Rundschau that wealth depends not only on income but also on what people can achieve with it. She warned that Europe may struggle to develop a shared understanding of prosperity if economic differences remain this wide.

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If economic differences remain this wide, Europe will not be able to develop a shared understanding of prosperity in the long term.