Hungarians Spend 15% Of Monthly Salary On School Start

  • 28 Aug 2018 8:37 AM
  • Budapest Business Journal
Hungarians Spend 15% Of Monthly Salary On School Start
The start of the new school year is known to be a heavy financial burden for families with children. A comparative study of 36 countries shows how much this differs, depending on the development of economies.

E-commerce market research company Picodi conducted a study among 36 countries worldwide to find out the cost of necessary equipment for the start of the new school year, and how much this represents in terms of the average local salary.

The study looked at prices for a school bag, stationery (scissors, glue, colored paper, water colors, pencils) and sports clothes (trousers, T-shirts and sports shoes).

According to the findings of Picodi, in Hungary the average cost amounts to EUR 100 (around HUF 32,000), representing 15.19% of an average Hungarian monthly salary.  This is more than recently estimated by business portal penzcentrum.hu, which found that the minimum amount needed for starting school is HUF 10,000-20,000.

Compared to this, residents of Romania need to spend much less (EUR 54), although this represents a similar share of the average monthly salary (13.37%).

The start of the school year seems to be more costly for Bulgarians, who need to spend a similar amount as Hungarians (EUR 93), but with a heavier burden on their salary (21.13%).

In Ukraine the percentage of the average salary is even higher (25.33%), even with a much lower amount needed (EUR 61).

As for other countries in the region, Poland and the Czech Republic are similar, with required spending of EUR 64 and EUR 67, representing 8.44% and 7.80% of average salaries, respectively.

West European countries reveal radically different figures. British parents spend EUR 156 on average preparing their kids for school, but this requires only 8.96% of their salary.

The Swiss pay EUR 124, a mere 2.99% of the average salary, while the Austrians also spend EUR 124, representing 5.33% of the average salary.

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Budapest Business Journal

Hungary's largest and oldest source of business and financial news in English. Since 1992 it has presented essential information on Hungarian business life, including international analyses about the country. These days the BBJ newspaper is published every other week, while it releases daily business news online including premium paid content.

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