In Slovakia, one-third of the population cannot afford a week-long vacation outside their home, reads an analysis drafted by the Slovenská Sporiteľna bank, which looked into gaping disparities in living standards between EU member states. Slovakia lags by some 10 percentage points beyond the EU average and ended in ninth place. However, this figure has been recording a long-term decrease - the number back in 2010 was up at 56%.
The greatest gap can be seen between countries of the West or the old EU members and countries of the East. The top ten chart showing the percentage of population that cannot afford a week-long vacation outside their homes is topped by six eastern European members.
The best ranking went to northern countries such as Sweden, Finland, Denmark along with Austria and Luxembourg, where the figure stood in the neighbourhood of 7-13%. The worst ranking was taken by Romania, where every second inhabitant finds it difficult to pay for 7-day vacation outside their home, followed by Greece, Croatia and Cyprus.
