When people were asked to rate how they were doing compared to last year, 16 percent said much better or at least a little better. About 44 percent then report that they are about the same. But 38 percent of respondents, on the contrary, say that they are doing a little or much worse.
And these are almost exactly the same results when people answered the same question a year ago. This is shown by a repeated survey by the Ipsos agency for Seznam Zpravy, which is part of a long-term project How to live in the Czech Republic.
In it, Seznam Zprávy brings long-term reporting based on exclusive data and surveys, which together with reports and analyzes show the real living conditions of people from different corners of the Czech Republic.
Although the Czech economy is one of the fastest growing in Europe, from an individual point of view Czech households and individuals do not see it that way. So, at least, they do not perceive a significant improvement yet.
“A large part of people feel that their lives are quite similar. And therefore optimism is only moderate,” describes Michal Kormaňák, an analyst at Ipsos.
At the same time, other data also indicate that the Czech Republic is definitely not doing badly. The prestigious British weekly The Economist ranked our economy in sixth place in the list of countries that looked the best this year. At the same time, we took 18th place last year.
“The feeling of insecurity of some people may be connected to the fact that they see that their real incomes have risen, but only so little that they are afraid that one small increase in energy prices will not wipe it out,” describes sociologist Daniel Prokop from the research company PAQ Research, which, as part of the Life without Paying research, has been monitoring the situation of Czech households since 2020.
We are doing a little better
On the other hand, there is hope for the future. In the data of the Czech Statistical Office, it appeared that people look at the next 12 months quite positively. Even so well that Czech households have not had a more optimistic view since February 2020.
Photo: List of News
Long-term project News List – How to live in the Czech Republic.
The youngest adults rate their current situation better, not only the 18 to 26-year-old category, but also the 27- to 35-year-old category. But this is not entirely surprising, because as it turns out in general and in other surveys, firstly, younger people are basically not so pessimistic and, secondly, they tend to have fewer obligations and responsibilities, so financial difficulties do not affect them as much.
But even the oldest generation answers that they are basically the same as they were a year ago. 58 percent of people over the age of 66 chose this option in the survey.
“It may look like some people’s sentiment lags behind the real situation. Of course, if economic development had been normal in the last five years, people would be much better off today,” adds Prokop.
We are always worried about food
However, it is true that people feel great uncertainty about food prices. After all, it’s no wonder. Sharp price hikes in 2022 and 2023 are fresh in mind.
When people had to choose what made them more expensive compared to last year, food clearly won with 71 percent. Behind them ended up with the energy gap, which dropped so significantly from the January 2024 survey. You can see all the answers below in the graph (the answers add up to more than 100 percent, because respondents could choose up to two options).
On the contrary, housing has almost caught up with energy. In this regard, about a quarter of people register higher expenses, which is almost eight percentage points more than in January 2024. The younger people are, the more they mention the cost of housing and transportation as a problem. With increasing age, the problem of rising energy and food prices increases.
“Energy has stabilized, even a slight decrease can be seen. But food prices, even though inflation is lower, people are watching a lot and saving on them,” Kormaňák describes the results of the survey.
In the case of food, 27 percent of people have to forgo necessary expenses, and more are saved only on entertainment. This is followed by clothing and footwear, services such as a hairdresser, or travel.
“It turns out that real household incomes are finally returning to the level of 2021,” adds Prokop based on data from the representative research Life without Price.
At the same time, however, he reminds that there are several “buts”. The increase in prices hit individual groups of the population with varying degrees of force. Households with low incomes had the greatest impact, on the other hand, for example, seniors are already at the pre-crisis level in autumn 2021, or are approaching this level.
With the contribution of Petr Švihel.
