Romanians are now worse off than Bulgarians

Comparisons between the purchasing power of Romanians and that of our neighbors don't put us in a very good light. The latest data, collected after the crisis began, shows that even Bulgarians are now better off than us. According to the Numbeo.com portal, which is one of the largest databases regarding the cost of living, a Romanian has a net salary of 373.24 Euro, 56 Euro less than a Bulgarian. And a lot of the prices are bigger in Romania. When going to a restaurant (nothing fancy) in Bucharest, a Romanian has to pay an average of 5.43 Euro. The same meal would cost him 4.7 Euro in Sofia, 3.81 Euro in Kiev or 5 Euro in a Belgrade restaurant.

Even when they choose to drink at home, Romanians still draw the short straw. If he were to spend his entire salary on beer, an "average" Romanian could purchase 287 half-liter bottles of beer, compared to the 429 glasses a Bulgarian, or 581 beers a Briton could purchase, twice more than a Romanian. On the other hand, milk is cheaper here than south of the Danube, but chicken eggs are more expensive. With the money earned in a month a Romanian can fill his car's gas tank 7 times, while a Bulgarian can fill it 8.58 times, same as a Hungarian. That's because the price for a liter of gas is similar in the area: 1.04 Euro in Bucharest, 1 Euro in Sofia, and 1.25 Euro in Budapest. Romania does best at mobile telephony service prices and parking prices. According to a global study conducted by Colliers International, Romanians pay one of the lowest prices in Europe for parking. The problem is that all big Romanian cities have a major shortage of parking spaces.

Gandul