Media often reports on the comparison of Croatian prices and those of the neighboring countries.  Ja Trgovac website found a rather picturesque way to compare average salaries of Croats to those of our neighbors.

Calculate how many cups of coffee or packs of cigarettes do you earn per month

So they came up with an interesting finding that average Croatian wage is worth 306 boxes of cigarettes, it is sufficient for 372 packages of toothpaste, 72 kilograms of coffee or 453 liters of beers.

When we compare this data with our neighbors, we find that average Slovenian can buy 542 liters of beer, 353 kilograms of laundry detergent, he can enjoy the 109 kilograms of coffee, smoke 376 boxes of cigarettes, but he will not be able to buy as much of toothpaste as his Croatian neighbor.

Smoking is the cheapest in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Of course, Slovenians earn 25 percent more than we do, but they also have bigger costs. Purchasing power of our eastern neighbors in Serbia is far lower than ours, but their prices are also lower.  Bosnia and Herzegovina is similar to Serbia in this respect.

However, Bosnia and Herzegovina smokers are the luckiest in the region: their average wage will afford them with 458 boxes of cigarettes, which is the highest in the region. In spite of this interesting info, the study still  doesn’t answer the question which country would be the best to live in. In fact, comparison of income and prices leads us to the conclusion that all of the region’s countries live in accordance with their particular situation.

More specifically, the simple comparison of different markets is not really useful unless compared to broader economic framework. If we compare the average net salaries in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia, it is evident that the purchasing power varies significantly from country to country, and that differences in prices are not as drastic as they seem at first.