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12089
Norway and Denmark more expensive than Sweden
statistikk
2007-04-17T10:00:00.000Z
Prices and price indices
en
pppvare, Price level for consumer goods and services, price level index, EU countries, EEA countries, international comparisonsConsumer prices , Prices and price indices
false

Price level for consumer goods and services, 2005

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Norway and Denmark more expensive than Sweden

Prices of pharmaceuticals are much lower in Norway than in the two other EFTA countries Switzerland and Iceland, and roughly similar to the price level in neighbouring Denmark. However, this is far above the price level in Sweden and in Europe as a whole.

Relative price levels of pharmaceuticals,
Europe 2005. EU25=100
EU25=100
Switzerland  187
Iceland  160
Germany  128
Denmark  121
Norway  120
Ireland  119
Italy  118
Finland  111
Netherlands  109
Austria  107
Belgium  106
Malta  106
Luxembourg  103
Cyprus  102
Sweden 95
Portugal 94
United Kingdom 93
France 91
Slovenia 86
Latvia 79
Estonia 79
Spain 77
Hungary 74
Croatia 73
Greece 73
Bulgaria 72
Slovakia 71
Czech Republic 71
Lithuania 70
Romania 70
Turkey 69
Poland 68
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 58
Source:  Eurostat.

Switzerland and Iceland stand apart from the other countries in this survey, with price levels far above the European average: Switzerland was 87 per cent and Iceland 60 per cent above the average of the (then) 25 EU member countries. Norway and Denmark are about 20 per cent above the EU25 average, whereas Sweden’s price level is remarkably lower.

Considerable price difference in Europe

The price level differences of pharmaceuticals across Europe are remarkable. If we focus on the EU member countries only, the price levels in countries like Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are typically 40-50 per cent lower than in Germany, which comes out on top. The price difference is less pronounced for original, branded products than for so-called “generic products”. The latter are not protected by patents, and are frequently produced for the domestic market only.

The survey was carried out by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Commission, in cooperation with 33 European countries in November 2005. Prices of 181 pharmaceutical products were compared across the participating countries. The survey is based on total prices, i.e. the sum of what the customer has to pay and the price subsidy paid by Social Security.

Read more about this survey in Eurostat’s " Statistics in Focus ".