Where in Europe people cannot afford a week's vacation - statistics

Where rest is most affordable

The highest level of the so-called "vacation deprivation" was recorded mainly in the countries of Southern and South-Eastern Europe. In addition to Romania, high indicators are found in Montenegro - 58%, Albania - 53%, Turkey - 51%, North Macedonia - 48% and Greece - 47%.

In Bulgaria and Hungary 39% of the population cannot afford a week's vacation, in Serbia - 36%, and in Italy - 36%.

At the same time, this figure is 33% in Portugal and Croatia, 32% in Spain, 31% in Lithuania, and 29% in Slovakia and Latvia.

The best situation is in the countries of Northern and Western Europe. In Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Slovenia no more than 15% of the population cannot afford a week's rest. In France, the indicator is 23%, in Germany - 21%.

In which countries has the situation worsened?

Despite the overall improvement over the decade, in five countries, the share of people without the ability to pay for leave increased.

The largest is in Norway: from 5.3% in 2015 to 9.1% in 2025. In Sweden, the indicator rose from 9.2% to 12.4%, and in Finland - by 1.5 percentage points.

A slight deterioration was also recorded in Germany — up to 21%, and Austria — by 0.3 percentage points.

At the same time, these countries will continue to remain among the states with the lowest share of the population that cannot afford recreation.

Where the situation has improved the most

Croatia and Serbia showed the greatest progress for 2015-2025. The share of people who cannot afford a week's vacation has decreased there by 33 and 32 percentage points in accordance.

A significant improvement also occurred in Cyprus — by 26 percentage points, in Ireland — by 22 percentage points, in Bulgaria and Turkey — by 21 percentage points.

In Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Malta and Hungary, the indicator decreased by more than 15 percentage points over the decade.

What actually determines the availability of rest

The opportunity to go on vacation depends not only on the cost of the trip, but primarily on household income levels and the ratio of wages to prices.

In 2025, the average annual salary in the EU was about €39.8 thousand, but the income gap between individual countries remains huge. At the same time, the level of consumer prices ranges from 63% of the EU average in Bulgaria to 140% in Denmark.

Therefore, a cheap country in itself does not mean that its residents can easily afford a vacation. The key remains the ratio of income, prices and the cost of the trip itself.