Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) is a measure of material welfare of households. Based on first preliminary estimates for 2014, AIC per capita expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) varied from 49% to 140% of the European Union average across the Member States.

Ten Member States recorded AIC per capita above the EU average in 2014. The highest level in the EU was recorded in Luxembourg, 40% above the EU average. Germany and Austria were more than 20% above. They were followed by Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Finland, France and the Netherlands which all recorded levels between 10% and 15% above the EU average.

AIC per capita for twelve Member States lay between the EU average and 30% below. In Italy, Ireland, Cyprus and Spain, the levels were 10% or less below the EU average, while Greece, Portugal and Lithuania were between 10% and 20% below.

Malta, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia were between 20% and 30% below the average. Malta's GDP per capita was recorded as at 85% of the EU average.

Six Member States recorded AIC per capita more than 30% below the EU average. Estonia, Latvia and Hungary were between 30% and 40% below, while Croatia and Romania had AIC per capita between 40% and 45% below the EU average and Bulgaria was around 50% below.

This was among a raft of releases by Eurostat over the past week which shed a particular light on Malta.

Malta with an employment growth decrease

In another Eurostat release, also on Tuesday, Malta was registered as among those countries which have seen a decrease in employment growth.

The number of persons employed increased by 0.1% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU28 in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter, according to national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, employment increased by 0.1% in the euro area and 0.2% in the EU28. These figures are seasonally adjusted.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment increased by 0.8% in the euro area and by 1.1% in the EU28 in the first quarter of 2015 (after +0.9% and +1.1% respectively in the fourth quarter of 2014).

Eurostat estimates that, in the first quarter of 2015, 228.1 million men and women were employed in the EU28, of which 150.3 million were in the euro area. These figures are seasonally adjusted.

Among Member States for which data are available, Latvia and Hungary (+1.5%) recorded the highest increases in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the previous quarter, followed by Estonia (+0.9%), Spain (+0.8%), the Czech Republic, Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom (all +0.7%).

Greece (-0.8%) and Malta (-0.4%) recorded decreases, while employment was stable in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Malta with the second largest decrease in industrial production

On Friday, Eurostat announced that in April 2015 compared with March 2015, seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 0.1% in both the euro area (EA19) and the EU28. In March 2015 industrial production decreased by 0.4% and 0.1% respectively.

In April 2015 compared with April 2014, industrial production increased by 0.8% in the euro area and by 1.2% in the EU28.

The increase of 0.1% in industrial production in the euro area in April 2015, compared with March 2015, is due to production of durable consumer goods rising by 1.0%, capital goods by 0.7% and intermediate goods by 0.3%, while non-durable consumer goods fell by 0.8% and energy by 1.6%.

In the EU28, the increase of 0.1% is due to production of capital goods rising by 0.6% and durable consumer goods by 0.5%, while intermediate goods were stable. Energy fell by 0.4% and non-durable consumer goods by 1.2%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the highest increases in industrial production were registered in Lithuania (+3.4%), Sweden (+2.2%) and Portugal (+2.1%), and the largest decreases in Croatia (-4.1%), Malta (-3.8%), Greece (-2.3%) and Poland (-2.1%).

Malta with the highest annual inflation

Euro area annual inflation was 0.3% in May 2015, up from 0.0% in April. In May 2014 the rate was 0.5%. European Union annual inflation was also 0.3% in May 2015, up from 0.0% in April. A year earlier the rate was 0.6%..

In May 2015, negative annual rates were observed in eight Member States. The lowest annual rates were registered in Cyprus (-1.7%), Greece (-1.4%) and Slovenia (-0.8%).

The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania and Malta (both 1.3%) and Latvia (1.2%). Compared with April 2015, annual inflation fell in two Member States, remained stable in three and rose in twenty-three.