Together with Iceland and Switzerland, Norway is still at the top of the list of Europe’s most expensive countries.It is especially high on the prices of alcohol and tobacco.
Price statistics from the EU statistical office Eurostat showed that the price level in Norway was 43% above the average in the 28 EU countries in 2017. Iceland had the highest prices, 66% above average, while Switzerland was 59% above the average.
‘’For alcoholic beverages and tobacco, Iceland and Norway peaked at approximately twice as high prices as the average in Europe, Statistics Norway (SSB) wrote in a review of the figures.
The high prices were explained by the level of taxation, which contributed to high prices for alcohol and tobacco in the other Nordic countries together with Ireland and the United Kingdom.
A majority of Balkan countries had the lowest price levels in the survey.For example, Macedonia and Bulgaria had a price level of approximately half the average in the EU.
Although prices in Norway are high, they do not necessarily exceed purchasing power. The statistics also show that Norway had 50% higher priced Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita than the average of European countries in 2017.
‘’Only Luxembourg, Ireland and Switzerland had a higher result than Norway,’’ wrote SSB, which stated that these figures are provisional and that final results for last year are to be published in December.
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today
