Country Flag
Expatica logo

Expatica news

Spain is fifth cheapest EU country in which to buy alcohol

Part of the reason that many visitors enjoy coming over to Spain is because they get more for their money than in their own country.

For example, food, drink and cigarettes are a lot cheaper to buy in Spain than in the UK, and most tourists end up taking a lot of duty-free goods back home with them.

According to a comparison study carried out by Eurostat, the cost of an alcoholic drink is almost 20% cheaper in Spain than it is for the average of the European Union as a whole.

This means that Spain is the fifth EU country where alcohol is the least expensive, and buying a drink here is 20% cheaper than in most other nations.

The only countries in which you can purchase alcohol for less money than in Spain are: Bulgaria (36% cheaper than EU average), Rumania (-28%), Hungary (-26%) and the Czech Republic (-21%).

At the other end of the scale, the countries where the price of alcohol is at its highest are Ireland (+75% than EU average), Finland (+72%) and the UK (+63%).

In the case of cigarettes and tobacco, the prices in Spain are also lower than the European average by about 26%.

The range of prices between all EU countries is much wider in this department, with the cheapest prices of tobacco in Bulgaria, Croatia or Lithuania being around 50% less than the EU average. Cigarettes cost the most in the UK (+118%) followed by Ireland (+89%).

And non-alcoholic beverages will also set you back less money in Spain than in many other countries, with prices being 8% cheaper than the EU average.

Non-alcoholic drinks cost the most in Denmark (+45%), followed by Sweden (+24%), and Austria (+20%).

They are the least expensive in Poland (-37%), followed by Rumania (-36%), Bulgaria (-30%), Lithuania (-22%) and the Czech Republic and Hungary (both -21%).

However, not everything is less expensive in Spain. The study has also revealed that bread and cereals are 4% more costlythan in other parts of Europe, although meat is 15% cheaper and milk, cheese and eggs are 4% less expensive.