Between 2004 and 2024, household real income per capita in the EU grew by 22%.
Income per capita grew steadily between 2004 and 2008, stagnated between 2008 and 2011 due to the global financial crisis and declined in 2012 and 2013. Since then, income resumed the steady growth until the year 2020 where it declined due to the global pandemic. The year 2021 saw a rebound but income grew slowly in 2022 and 2023. The first data for 2024 show an acceleration of the growth of income.
Source dataset: nasa_10_ki
Looking at the EU countries, Romania had the largest growth in household real income per capita from 2004 to 2024 (134%), followed by Lithuania (95%), Poland (91%) and Malta (90%). Greece and Italy were the only countries where household income per capita declined during the last 20 years (-5% and -4%, respectively), while the lowest increases were found in Spain (11%), Austria (14%), Belgium (15%) and Luxembourg (17%).
Source dataset: nasa_10_ki
For more information
- Statistics Explained article on households – statistics on income, saving and investment
- Thematic section on institutional sector accounts
- Database on institutional sector accounts
- Institutional sector accounts visualisation
Methodological notes
Adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita in real terms is the total amount of money households have available for spending and saving after subtracting income taxes and pension contributions, plus the individual goods and services (such as education and health services) received free of charge from government and non-profit institutions serving households. Real means that its nominal value is adjusted for price increases (by the deflator of household actual final consumption expenditure). Per capita indicates that the value was divided by the total population.
