Finland had the highest prices for alcoholic beverages in the EU last year, according to the results of a price comparison programme coordinated by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union.
The report found that the cost of alcohol in Finland was 120 percent higher than the EU average in 2021. This is a significant increase on 2020, when prices in Finland were 91 percent above the EU average.
Ireland and Sweden had the next highest alcohol prices, while the EU's cheapest tipples could be found in Hungary, Austria and Germany.
Finland was also the sixth most expensive EU country last year in terms of the price of food, and the fifth most expensive for general consumer prices.
Denmark, Ireland and Luxembourg were found to be among the most expensive countries in these categories.
Rising inflation will bring changes
The inflation rate in the Eurozone has climbed to record highs this year, hitting 8.1 percent year-on-year in May.
By comparison, Finland's inflation rate was 7.1 percent last month, the highest level since February 1990.
According to Harri Kananoja, a Senior Statistician with Statistics Finland, the rise in inflation will have a significant impact on prices across Europe and a knock on effect on the price comparison index. However, he added, these effects will not become apparent until the end of this year.
"A comparison of almost forty countries requires a huge amount of data collection on price changes and weights for different commodity groups, as well as changes in exchange rates. The update of the price level indices for 2021 to 2022 will not be done until the end of the year," Kananoja said.
However, the rise in inflation rates is likely to have different effects on different countries.
"In Europe, food prices have risen at different rates during the spring. It can be assumed that the relative price level in high-inflation countries has risen relative to other countries," Kananoja noted.
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