Off the wire
• Frost causes 100 mln euros in losses for Austrian fruit farmers  • U.S. F-22 aircrafts make symbolic deployment in Lithuania  • Gold up ahead of Fed statement  • Urgent: U.S. Fed keeps benchmark interest rate unchanged  • Illegal harvest of medicinal plants threatens Tanzania's national park  • Two thirds of all flights canceled at Munich airport due to strike  • Slovakia has scope to provide shelter to more refugees: president  • China-funded agri-industrial park starts construction in Uganda  • Interview: China making progress in IP protection: British official  • British preliminary GDP growth slows to 0.4 pct in Q1  
You are here: 　 Home

Riga living costs higher than other Baltic capitals: study

Xinhua, April 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

The costs of living in Riga are higher than in the two other Baltic capitals, Tallinn and Vilnius, a new study by the Swedbank Institute of Private Finances revealed Wednesday.

A family of four owning a 70 square meter apartment in a Soviet-era house spends 41 percent of their income on food, housing and transport in Riga, 40 percent in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius and just 24 percent in the Estonian capital Tallinn, the study shows.

Such a family's monthly expenses on food, housing and public transport would amount to 585 euros (661 U.S. dollars) in Riga, 525 euros in Vilnius and 493 euros in Tallinn.

After buying food and paying for housing and public transport, families in Tallinn still have 1,560 euros at their disposal on average, which is about twice as much as in the other Baltic capitals, as households in Riga are left with 840 euros and households in Vilnius with 774 euros on average.

"Although residents of Riga have seen the steepest wage growth in monetary terms, families in Tallinn continued to increase their financial lead over Latvia thanks to lower tax rates and nearly three times higher government support," said Evija Kropa, an expert at the Swedbank Institute of Private Finances. Endit