The average food basket for a household of four people costs 965 litas (EUR 279.7) per month in Lithuania, 1,051 litas in Estonia, and 1,100 litas in Latvia, according to the survey.
Adjusted for differences in wages in the Baltic countries, the burden of food costs is the lowest in Estonia where it takes up to 22 percent of the income of two adults getting average wages to buy the optimal food basket for a household of four people. In Lithuania, the respective rate is 29 percent, and in Latvia, 32 percent.
“According to data from the European statistics office, Eurostat, the share of household spending on food and soft drinks exceeded 20 percent of total expenses in all three Baltic countries. However, this group of expenses has more room for optimization than others owing to its size. Therefore, it is particularly important to follow this expenditure line and manage it consciously,” Odeta Bložienė, the Lithuanian head of the Swedbank Personal Finance Institute, said in a press release.
The survey was based on the methodology of the Estonian Society of Nutritional Sciences, under which the intake of calories per person shall reach 2,400 calories per day on average, and involved the assessment of the prices of food products included in a respective basket. The data on product prices was collected by the research company Nielsen between January 14 and 20. The products were chosen in the shopping centers in all three Baltic capitals.
