Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe, is ranked as the country where its inhabitants spend more on bread and cereals in relation to their income. 

According to tables published by the European Institute of Statistics (Eurostat), nominal expenditures on bread and cereals, as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP - which measures the value of final goods and services produced by the economy in a year) were 4.8%, in 2020, the highest in Europe.

The pandemic year has affected the increase of expenditures for this vital product, while in the period 2016-2019, this indicator was reduced to 4.7% of GDP. 

The second is ranked Romania, with 4% of GDP, Montenegro, with 3.9% of GDP, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina with 3.1% and North Macedonia with 3%. Greece, though a country in the European Union, also spends 2.7% of its GDP on bread and cereals. Serbia has the lowest indicator in the region, with 2.4% (data for Kosovo are missing). 

The average of candidate and potential candidate countries (excluding Turkey and Kosovo) is 3% of GDP, much higher than the average of 1.3% of the 27 European Union countries. 

In absolute terms, the average per capita expenditure on bread and cereals is 220 euros per year, the highest in the region, along with Montenegro (266 euros). The lowest level in the region is in Macedonia (157 euros) and then Serbia (164 euros). Developed countries spend more per capita on this product, as it is more expensive, but due to the high income, it does not weigh in their pockets. 

The most expensive bread in Europe by purchasing power 

Eurostat reports that the prices of bread and cereals in Albania were as much as 70% of the European Union average (price level indicator, EU-27 = 100). But, measured according to the purchasing power method (where the European Union average is taken as a reference by 1), it costs Albanians 87 times more to buy bread than a European.

Albania is the country that has the highest share of food expenditures in relation to the total, an indicator of the low level of income, which dictates the fulfillment of basic needs, before starting to think about less basic expenditures up to those that are not necessary, such as entertainment. The average per capita income of Albanians is 31% of the European Union average, the lowest in Europe (behind us is Bosnia with 32%).

According to Eurostat tables, expenditures on food and alcoholic beverages account for 38% of the total for Albanian households, compared to 13% which is the average of the 27 countries of the European Union and 30.6% which has the second country in the list after us, North Macedonia. 

Recently, some bakeries in the country have increased the price of bread by ALL 10, bringing it to ALL 80 a piece of bread, with an increase of about 14%. 

Members of the Association of Bread, Pastry and Bakery Producers say that soon the increase in the price of bread by ALL 10 will occur throughout the market. The main reason for the increase in the price of bread is the increase in the price of flour in the domestic market by ALL 5 / kg since the beginning of August.