Ukrainians are the second-poorest nation in Europe in terms of purchasing power, according to a recent study by GfK GeoMarketing, a global market research company, released on Nov. 24. The country was ranked 40th out of 41 European nations that took part in the survey, above only Moldova and behind isolated Belarus and post-war Albania.

Each Ukrainian has only 1,688 euros to spend per year, way below the European average of 12,500 euros. Moldovans, the poorest nation, have 788 euros of per capita disposable income per year.

Liechtenstein ranks first with a purchasing power of 45,000 euros. Luxembourg comes in second with a purchasing power of 28,192 euros, followed by Switzerland with 26,842 euros. According to the survey, European consumers have disposable income totaling eight trillion euros to spend on consumer goods, and this includes state benefits like unemployment money, child benefits and pensions.

The survey that was designed to “provide updated comparisons between Europe’s regions” concluded that there is still a considerable disparity between Western, Central and Eastern Europe.

GfK used official governments’ data to measure per capita disposable income, including state benefits, after tax deductions. The figures are not adjusted for inflation, which is considerable in some European nations.

The Ukrainian branch of GfK said that in Ukraine's case, the picture is distorted. “They take data from the Statistics Ministry to ensure equal sources for all countries,” said Maryna Zaborylo, a GfK official.

The States Statistics Committee collects information about the official economy and official wages, completely ignoring the grey-market sector. According to National Bank research conducted in March this year, between 30 to 60 percent of the economy is in the shadows, depending on the sector.

Korrespondent magazine, the Russian-language sister publication of the Kyiv Post, conducted its own study this month of disposable incomes of middle-class Ukrainians working in private companies in towns and cities.

The research analyzed actual salaries paid by the market and deducted taxes, rent, utilities and other compulsory payments. As a result, the magazine concluded that an average working Ukrainian has $975 of disposable income to spend per month. This is just below Poland, where an average middle-class worker has $1,210, and even more than in Bulgaria ($698), Romania ($648) and Bosnia ($483). The study also showed that the cost of living in Central Europe is much higher than it is in Ukraine, while salaries are not.  

According to Oleksandr Paskhover, author of Korrespondent's study, the “shadow market of salaries in Ukraine is estimated at 310 billion hryvnias, which is more than the annual budget of Ukraine.”

GfK research partly supports Korrespondent’s findings. It showed a great regional disparity of incomes, with cities performing much better than rural areas. Kyivans have one of the highest nominal incomes among Ukrainians, with 3,110 euros to spend per year. But there are two places in Ukraine that rated even higher than Kyiv.

Ugledar, a mining town in Donetsk region, has the highest purchasing power rating in Ukraine, while the sea town of Yuzhne in Odesa oblast holds second place.

“The real income of these two towns is a mystery to us,” said Kyiv GfK’s Zaborylo. She said these are towns with less than 50,000 population, which means that the local office does not monitor them independently from the State Statistics Committee.

GfK predicted that the next year’s survey will reflect the unveiling financial and economic crisis which is expected to make Europeans much poorer. Ukraine is not expected to change its humble 40th place, however.