According to the results of the 11th European Consumer Payment Behaviour Survey 2023 published by a company called Intrum, a European provider of debt management and collection services Slovaks don't have sufficient incomes to cover all their monthly expenditures.
Answers from 20,000 consumers from 20 European countries, including 1,000 Slovaks, were analyzed in the survey, which took place between July 19 and September 1.
The survey showed that as many as three quarters (76 percent) of consumers in Slovakia spend all of their income every month or even dig into their savings or go into debt. Only 24 percent said that they have lower expenditures than incomes. The situation in Slovakia corresponds with the European average, with Greeks having the most serious problems with household finances (87 percent of them spend the whole of their incomes or more).
"Our survey unambiguously confirms that financial comfort has declined all over Europe. Most households have serious budgeting problems. Three in four Slovaks spend their complete incomes or even more every month. This is reflected in a one-third increase in the number of people who are late paying their bills," said Intrum Slovakia CEO Martin Musil.
One in four respondents from Slovakia said that they've failed to pay at least one bill over the past 12 months. This is one of the best results when compared to other surveyed European countries, but the number rose by one third year-on-year (y-o-y), with the share of those who failed to pay two to four bills growing most significantly. This confirms that even in Slovakia the current economic situation is significantly affecting household finances.
The main reason for the failure to pay bills on time was that people didn't have enough money to do so. This reason was given by four in ten consumers (38 percent) who failed to pay at least one bill over the past 12 months.
Meanwhile, the survey revealed a 4.5-fold y-o-y increase in the group of respondents who said that they skipped a payment of their own volition - they didn't want to pay the bill. They only made up 10 percent of the respondents, but such rapid growth is alarming.
(TASR)
