Work, Income, Living Level

On average, respondents believe that the monthly salary for a family of four which marks the poverty level is 22,210 CZK however the most frequent response stated 20,000 CZK. The concept of the poverty level continuously changes with the perception of income which would be sufficient to cover basic requirements of the respondents’ household needs. People with a higher standard of living also define the poverty level to be higher.

In the survey from the end of February to the beginning of March 2002 three fifths (60% of respondents) the standard of living of their household as being good, compared to 37% who described it as being bad. At the end of March and beginning of April, the ratio of the positive evaluation was increased by 6% to a total of 66% with a currently decreasing critical evaluation of one’s household by 5% to a total of 32%.

With the exception of Romania and Bulgaria where the majority of inhabitants perceive their materialistic living conditions as being bad, the inhabitants of the other countries usually describe them as being average. This group in the Czech Republic contains 48% of respondents. The proportion of our inhabitants describing their condition as being very good or relatively good is 28%, which is the best result out of all countries surveyed.

The inhabitants of the surveyed countries do not expect any significant economic changes both for the better or worse before the beginning of the next year. Approximately half of Poles, Hungarians and Russians and approximately two fifths of Czechs, Slovaks and Bulgarians envisage economic stagnation. Those who are most enthusiastic about their future are Hungarians – almost one third of them (31%) envisage a positive development and only eight percent a negative development.