European households are reporting a decline in savings compared to a year ago, with rising living costs and a growing reluctance to disclose financial status defining the region’s economic landscape, according to ING Consumer Research in a note dated Monday.
In a survey of Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Spain, five out of six countries recorded fewer “yes” responses to whether households had savings, while half reported more “no” answers compared with a year earlier.
At the same time, the share of respondents who chose not to answer rose in every country by between one and four percentage points.
“Yet, in every economy surveyed, a higher share of respondents chose not to answer the question at all,” the report said.
The Netherlands remained the highest-ranking country, with 85% of households reporting savings, though this marked a 1 percentage-point decline from the previous year. Belgium was the only country to record an increase in the share of households with savings.
Differences across countries remain pronounced. Germany continues to record one of the highest shares of households without savings despite holding the largest amount of money in savings accounts. Romania ranks near the bottom, with the highest share of respondents without savings.
Income constraints are the primary driver. Across all six countries, roughly half of non-savers cited insufficient earnings as the main reason. As a share of all respondents, this ranged from less than 4% in the Netherlands to 21% in Romania. Overall, between 4% and 21% of respondents said they do not earn enough to save.
“Across all countries, insufficient earnings are the leading reason for not saving,” the report said.
Other factors play a smaller role. Around 20% of non-savers said they were using existing savings to cope with the rising cost of living. Discretionary spending accounted for just over 10% among Dutch and Polish non-savers, but less than 3% of all respondents in any country.
Structural differences persist across economies. Romania, which has the lowest per-capita GDP among the six countries, also records the highest share of respondents without savings, with some savings potentially held in property due to high home-ownership rates and a low number of mortgage payers.
The survey findings point to a broad-based decline in reported savings alongside rising non-response rates and continued income constraints across European households.
Source: Investing.com
