The cost of living in the
Community of Madrid
is 15.7% more expensive than the Spanish average, while doing so in
Extremadura
is 13.6% less than the average in Spain.
This is indicated by a study carried out by the
Autonomous University of Barcelona
(UAB), the
Pompeu Fabra University
(UPF), the
Barcelona City Council
and the
Institute of Regional and Metropolitan Studies of Barcelona
(IERMB), which has revealed that large metropolises and Spanish cities considered richer are not so rich if the real cost of living is taken into account.
The work, made public this Sunday, points out the need for public administrations to take into account the cost of living in each of the territories when designing social policies to be more realistic and fair, because cities considered rich, such as
Barcelona
or
Madrid now
have less real disposable family income than is considered with the current indicators.
The work, entitled
"The cost of living in the Autonomous Communities, Urban Areas and Cities of Spain"
, determines, for the first time, the differences in the cost of living and the
risk of poverty between autonomous
regions, metropolitan areas and Spanish cities having take into account the price of life, in each of these territories.
The analysis has been made from the
price level of each territory
and the indicators of household income and the rental price of housing in each community and in metropolitan areas.
"What was already intuitively known, has now been evidenced, showing how territories of the state considered richer, are not so, if this methodology is applied," the researchers explained.
The work highlights that between
Madrid
and
Extremadura
, the economies that have a higher and lower cost of living,
"there is a very large difference"
, of almost 30 percentage points, that is, to buy the same basket of products in
Madrid
needs 15.7% more money, and in Extremadura there is 13.6% less money than the Spanish average.
Catalonia
is in second position and, therefore, the same purchase for its population is 7.6% more expensive than the average for the rest of the State.
When analyzing the cost of living in cities and metropolitan areas, the study also reveals that in cities, such as
Toledo
, the cost of living is much more expensive than in the metropolitan area and much more even than in the Community Autonomous
"It is a pattern that is repeated in practically all capital cities, such as
Barcelona
, where the price level is also more expensive than in
Catalonia as a whole
. For this reason, if we want to equalize the purchasing power of families of some and other cities should compensate the population with a higher cost of living with a higher income, "the authors point out.
The study, which specifically introduces
the rental price of housing
as a new variable
, in addition to per capita disposable family income, makes it possible to compare the purchasing power capacity by metropolitan areas and cities in Spain.
According to the
IERMB
researchers
, the official statistics for Europe and Spain do not take into account the different territorial price levels when calculating such relevant indicators as disposable family income or the risk of poverty and for this reason they propose to estimate price indicators by autonomies, metropolitan areas and large cities, highlighting the relevance of considering these differentials.
By applying these variables, the difference between the autonomous communities with higher and lower income is reduced and, according to the work,
"the level of well-being of the population is captured in a more realistic way, at the local level
.
"
For this reason, the researchers consider that public administrations should take into account the price level of each of the territories, specifically, when designing social policies "to be more realistic and fair."
When applying the cost of living, the
"ranking"
of the communities in terms of per capita disposable family income
is modified
, so that, for example,
Catalonia
goes from being the third richest to the sixth, if takes into account the community's price level, going from 13,338 euros of disposable family income to 12,398, and
Madrid
from the fourth to the tenth, from 13,279 euros to 12,398.
Navarra
would go from second available family income community to first place, from 13,585 euros to 13,877, unseating the
Basque Country
, which would go to second place -from 14,722 euros to 13,749-.
With this new calculation, the
Canary Islands
, which would go from 8,963 euros to 9,276- would be the poorest autonomy instead of
Extremadura
-which goes from 8,503 to 9,837- and would gain two positions in this ranking, above
Andalusia,
which would go from being the 14th most poor to be 16 -from 9,258 euros to 9,702-.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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