Switzerland, Norway most expensive in Europe in 2014

Switzerland and Norway, both of which are not members of the European Union (EU), had the highest price levels for goods and services in Europe in 2014, the Norwegian statistics bureau said on Monday.

Switzerland's price level for household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) was 154 percent of the average price level of the 28 EU countries in 2014, while the corresponding figure for Norway was 148 percent, according to Statistics Norway.

For the EU countries, Denmark, Sweden and Finland were the most expensive and had price levels of 138, 125 and 123 percent of the EU average respectively, while Bulgaria is the cheapest with 48 percent of the average.

Clear geographical divisions are visible in price levels among the European countries in 2014. Countries in northwest Europe, including the Nordic countries, Britain, Ireland, the Benelux countries and Switzerland, had the highest price levels.

France and countries in central and southern Europe are in the middle of price levels, while price levels are decidedly lowest in east and southeast, especially in the Balkans, Statistics Norway said.

Three groups of goods and services stand out with a particularly high Norwegian price level. This concerns alcohol and tobacco in particular, for which the Norwegian price level is almost 2.5 times higher than the European average. Restaurant and hotel services and food and non-alcoholic beverages are also especially high for Norway. Endit