In March the confidence of consumers in Netherlands decreased significantly compared to the same month last year, down from 4.1 to -8.3.
In the same time, EU countries consumers confidence have decreased somewhat, down from -4.4 to -7.1 on average.
Netherlands now has the ninth lowest confidence of consumers in the EU compared to the other 28 countries. Poland has the highest confidence of consumers (6.4 points), while Greece ranks last (-31.6 points).
Confidence of consumers in EU countries
| The whole country | 2019 (March) | 2018 (March) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | -1.4 | 1.4 | -2.8 |
| Belgium | -9.3 | -1.9 | -7.4 |
| Bulgaria | -25.4 | -17.3 | -8.1 |
| Croatia | -6.2 | -9 | +2.8 |
| Cyprus | -7.6 | -1.4 | -6.2 |
| Czech Republic | 1.7 | 7.2 | -5.5 |
| Denmark | 4 | 7.2 | -3.2 |
| Estonia | 0.8 | -0.2 | +1 |
| Finland | 0.4 | 6.6 | -6.2 |
| France | -10.8 | -6.3 | -4.5 |
| Germany | -2 | 0.2 | -2.2 |
| Greece | -31.6 | -52.1 | +20.5 |
| Hungary | -4.4 | 2.6 | -7 |
| Ireland | -1.5 | 10.3 | -11.8 |
| Italy | -13.1 | -11.3 | -1.8 |
| Latvia | -3.4 | -4.6 | +1.2 |
| Lithuania | 5 | -1.9 | +6.9 |
| Luxembourg | 0.9 | -2.2 | +3.1 |
| Malta | -0.6 | 15.3 | -15.9 |
| Netherlands | -8.3 | 4.1 | -12.4 |
| Poland | 6.4 | 2.1 | +4.3 |
| Portugal | -10.9 | -3.7 | -7.2 |
| Romania | -13.7 | -16.6 | +2.9 |
| Slovakia | -8.3 | -9.2 | +0.9 |
| Slovenia | -7.4 | -3.9 | -3.5 |
| Spain | -2 | -5.9 | +3.9 |
| Sweden | -0.5 | 2.3 | -2.8 |
| United Kingdom | -11.7 | -5.9 | -5.8 |
About the consumer confidence indicator
This indicator is based on consumers surveyed on their financial situation, general economic situation, price trends, unemployment, major purchases and savings, intention to buy a car, purchase or build a home, home improvements.
For all surveys the difference between positive and negative answers (in percentage points of total answers) are averaged to calculate an indicator.
The economic sentiment indicator (ESI) is calculated as an index with mean value of 100 and standard deviation of 10 over a fixed standardised sample period.