Purchasing power (consumption)

GfK purchasing power map Germany 2018 at district level

Relationship to standard of living : Development of the purchasing power of the minute wage in Germany from 1991 to 2005

As purchasing power of consumer households that in is private households for consumption purposes available income referred to, so the amount that each household remains on income after all periodic payment obligations (such as rents , mortgage payments , insurance premiums ) were served. Purchasing power can therefore refer to either the monthly income or the annual income of a person or household.

Terminology

The purchasing power of a household is not only linked to the employment situation of the household members, but is also subject to clear regional differences. These differences are of great importance for the consumer goods industry , which has to adapt its supply to the purchasing power in a particular region in order not to bypass the needs of the market.

The purchasing power theory is an approach in economic theory about how wage increases impact.

The disposable income of private households is a particularly meaningful indicator of the (monetary) “prosperity” of the population and is to be understood as the amount that is available to people living in a certain region for consumption purposes or for the formation of savings. The disposable income results from the received primary income after deducting the current transfers made and after adding the received current transfers. However, disposable income should not be equated across the board with the term “purchasing power”, since purchasing power should in principle also take into account the price level in addition to the nominal amount of money ( real wages ), while the disposable income as a pure nominal amount of money does not take into account any price differences.

In addition to purchasing power, centrality also plays an important role in retail . The centrality index is calculated from the ratio of the purchasing power index (purchasing power compared to the national average) to the sales index (retail sales compared to the national average).

Purchasing power index

Purchasing power index (also: purchasing power number or purchasing power index) of a region (state, district, municipality, postcode area and so on) indicates the purchasing power level of this region per inhabitant or household compared to the national average. The national average has the standard value 100. If the purchasing power index per inhabitant of a region is 84, for example, it is below the average - the inhabitants in this region only have 84 percent of the average purchasing power. In addition to regions of a country, countries themselves can also be compared with regard to their purchasing power.

Per capita purchasing power index in Europe (2010) at the level of the first administrative breakdown of the states (excluding Russia )

Regional authorities in Germany with the highest purchasing power indices (2018) Local authority state Purchasing power index Starnberg district  Bavaria 144.0 Hochtaunuskreis  Hesse 139.8 District of Munich  Bavaria 137.8 State capital Munich  Bavaria 134.8 Main-Taunus-Kreis  Hesse 132.8 District of Ebersberg  Bavaria 131.3 Fürstenfeldbruck district  Bavaria 124.3 District of Dachau  Bavaria 122.5 Erlangen , independent city  Bavaria 121.2 Miesbach district  Bavaria 119.8 Status: 2018; Source: GfK GeoMarketing GmbH, Bruchsal

Purchasing power indices of the federal states in Germany (2018) state Purchasing power index  Hamburg 109.8  Bavaria 109.2  Baden-Württemberg 107.6  Hesse 105.8  Schleswig-Holstein 100.1  North Rhine-Westphalia 99.1  Rhineland-Palatinate 98.2  Lower Saxony 97.8  Saarland 94.0  Berlin 91.5  Bremen 91.2  Brandenburg 91.1  Saxony 85.8  Thuringia 85.5  Saxony-Anhalt 84.6  Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 84.2 Status: 2018; Source: GfK GeoMarketing GmbH, Bruchsal

Purchasing power indices for selected European countries (2016) country Purchasing power per inhabitant in euros per year Purchasing power index  Austria 22,536 164.8  Germany 21,879 160.0  France 19,254 140.8  Liechtenstein 63.011 460.9  Norway 27,893 204.0  Switzerland 42,300 309.4 Status: 2016; Source: GfK GeoMarketing GmbH, Bruchsal

Purchasing power indices 2018 for individual German cities (large cities with more than one million inhabitants) Federal Republic of Germany = 100 city Purchasing power index Berlin 91.5 Hamburg 109.8 Munich 134.8 Cologne 106.5 Status: 2018; Source: GfK GeoMarketing GmbH, Bruchsal

The calculation of the purchasing power index is essentially based on wage and income statistics, i.e. on data from the tax offices and on data in connection with state transfer payments (unemployment and child benefit payments, family allowances, pensions, etc.). All income from self-employed and employed work, income from renting and leasing, interest and capital income are recorded. On the deductible side, taxes, compulsory insurance, savings and loan repayments are taken into account.

See also

• Purchasing power absorption
• Purchasing power parity
• Purchasing power retention rate

Web links

Wiktionary: Purchasing power  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Working group for national accounts of the federal states
• Prices and wages in around 100 cities worldwide ( PDF ; 1.44 MB)
• Florian Rötzer: A rich north-south axis runs through Europe

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Purchasing Power Germany 2018. GfK , December 12, 2017, accessed on February 23, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Purchasing Power Europe: Positive developments in Central and Eastern European countries. GfK , November 8, 2016, accessed December 1, 2016 .